


The Truth Will Out - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

by LottieBILlions



Series: The Truth Will Out - Hogwarts Reads Harry Potter [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Characters Reading Harry Potter Books, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 38,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26235187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieBILlions/pseuds/LottieBILlions
Summary: 'Somebody had to act,’ breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Harry’s forehead. ‘They were all bleating about silencing you somehow - discrediting you - but I was the one who actually did something about it … only you wriggled out of that one, didn’t you, Potter? Not today though, not now -’ And taking a deep breath, she cried, ‘Cruc-’-BANG! With a cry of shock, Umbridge leapt back from Harry, turning her wand upon her desk. A stack of seven books had appeared suddenly, with a note on top of them. Harry, still in shock over what had been about to happen and Umbridge’s Dementor revelation, did not notice the titles running along the sides of the books. Umbridge, however, most certainly did, and it made her day more than any use of the Cruciatus Curse on Potter ever could. Grabbing the note in her little pudgy hands, she read.....Just another reading the books fic, although this one definitely starts off different to any other I've read. Hogwarts finally learns the truth about all the mysteries that seem to have followed Harry Potter and his friends since their first year at Hogwarts. Lies are revealed and the truth will out.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Series: The Truth Will Out - Hogwarts Reads Harry Potter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905565
Comments: 143
Kudos: 345





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I realise these aren’t as popular as they were back in the day but I love this trope and most of the completed ones have been removed so this is more for myself, writing one how I would love to see it. I’m not a writer and despite my English GCSE, my imagination does not generally copy down well onto paper so be friendly please. I am determined to get to the graveyard scene of the fourth one at least as not a single one I’ve found that does all the books (and is still available) has reached that point yet and that is the bit I’ve been most desperate to read so I guess I’ll have to try and do it myself (I’ve gotten a wee bit desperate). Any similarities to other reading the books fics are completely unintentional and I will not have been aware of them. I’m about to start Year 13 so I have my A levels, Uni applications, an EPQ etc to do which will keep me busy so I will have to put school first and I am the emperor of procrastination so who knows when updates will be but I don’t plan on uploading anything (except this first introductory chapter maybe) until I’ve got a decent amount done so there can be regular updates while I still work on it. There will be no Dumbledore or Weasley bashing in this or anyone else really apart from the obvious, like Umbridge and Fudge etc. I hope this is ok (please feel free to point out any errors i make) and you all enjoy it, if anyone actually ever reads it.  
> P.S Harry and Remus will be closer than in canon cos I love Remus calling him cub (as well as Sirius calling him pup) and they'll need to be closer for that to happen. There’ll be lots of Prongslet as well cos I am a sucker for those nicknames.  
> P.P.S I realised halfway through writing this that at this point in the fifth year, McGonagall was in St. Mungos but I wanted to include her so we’ll have to pretend she had recovered quickly.

(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, pg.657/658)

**He closed the door behind him with a snap, leaving Harry in a state of worse turmoil than before: Snape had been his very last hope. He looked at Umbridge, who seemed to be feeling the same way; her chest was heaving with rage and frustration.**  
**‘Very well,’ she said, and she pulled out her wand. ‘Very well… I am left with no alternative … this is more than a matter of school discipline … this is an issue of Ministry security … yes … yes …’**  
**She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot, staring at Harry, beating her wand against her empty palm and breathing heavily. As he watched her, Harry felt horribly powerless without his own wand.**  
**‘You are forcing me, Potter … I do not want to,’ said Umbridge, still moving restlessly on the spot, ‘but sometimes circumstances justify the use … I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice …’**  
**Malfoy was watching her with a hungry expression on his face.**  
**‘The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue,’ said Umbridge quietly.**  
**‘No!’ shrieked Hermione. ‘Professor Umbridge - it’s illegal.’**  
**But Umbridge took no notice. There was a nasty, eager, excited look on her face that Harry had never seen before. She raised her wand.**  
**‘The Minister wouldn’t want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!’ cried Hermione.**  
**‘What Cornelius doesn’t know won’t hurt him,’ said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry’s body in turn, apparently deciding where it would hurt most. ‘He never knew I ordered Dementors to go after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him, all the same.’**  
**‘It was _you_?’ gasped Harry. ‘ _You_ sent the Dementors after me?’**  
**‘ _Somebody_ had to act,’ breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Harry’s forehead. ‘They were all bleating about silencing you somehow - discrediting you - but I was the one who actually _did_ something about it … only you wriggled out of that one, didn’t you, Potter? Not today though, not now -’ And taking a deep breath, she cried, ‘ _Cruc_ -’**

-BANG! With a cry of shock, Umbridge leapt back from Harry, turning her wand upon her desk. A stack of seven books had appeared suddenly, with a note on top of them. Harry, still in shock over what had been about to happen and Umbridge’s Dementor revelation, did not notice the titles running along the sides of the books. Umbridge, however, most certainly did, and it made her day more than any use of the Cruciatus Curse on Potter ever could. Grabbing the note in her little pudgy hands, she read:

_Dear Professor Umbridge,_  
_It seems you are in desperate need to learn the truth about what Harry Potter is up to. These books will provide the truth and more for you, although you will have to start from his first year at Hogwarts to get the full truth. You should call all the staff and students to the Great Hall immediately, and make sure to invite the Minister for Magic and Madam Bones, along with whoever else you see fit. There will be some other guests who turn up who I believe need to be there. You can use the spell Veritas Confirmatio ( **a/n: googled the Latin for ‘truth verification’** )to prove the truthfulness of these books._  
_T.R.L_

In quick, panting breaths, overwhelmed with excitement at this gift she had been given, and her long-desired opportunity to finally expose the infuriating Potter boy and his repugnant lies, she ordered the Inquisitorial squad members to march the six D.A members down into the Great Hall. While Ginny and Ron just felt relief that they weren’t about to watch Harry get tortured, Hermione was seething about the complete violation of Harry’s privacy that the toad was about to carry out while Harry couldn’t think about anything over the roaring wave of panic in his head that Sirius was currently being tortured and no one was doing anything about it. Snape had ignored his warning and now Umbridge wanted to read bloody books. He didn’t have time for this! Sirius didn’t have time for this! Without his wand, though, there was nothing he felt he could do and instead the desperation and fear that had started during his vision washed over him.

Meanwhile, all the students who had been planning their parties to celebrate the end of O.W.L.S were brought down to earth with a nasty crash, as Umbridge’s voice reverberated around all of Hogwarts, requesting the presence of every resident of the castle in the Great Hall immediately. While undermining her authority had been fun for all, her voice had a gleeful tone to it that made students and staff alike very wary. Nothing good could possibly come from something that made Satan’s wife happy.

15 minutes later, the hall was full of confused students, outraged staff - who had learnt the nature of the books- and an untameable Harry who was beside himself with panic and anger.  
“Hermione, Sirius IS NOT at home, Voldemort has him at the Ministry, why are we sitting here doing nothing?”  
Then the doors were thrown open and Harry’s day was made much worse as Fudge strode into the hall, a beaming smile on his face as he greeted Umbridge, followed by Percy Weasley, also strutting and Madam Amelia Bones, who looked disgusted at the great event that was being made of a young boy’s private life being exposed. Harry, himself, hadn’t had the time to take in what these books truly meant for him as he was unable to focus on anything other than the fact that his Godfather could possibly be dead right now and Harry wasn’t doing anything to stop it… but no. No. Harry would know if Voldemort had killed Sirius, he would feel it, would feel His anger that Sirius hadn’t given into him. No, Sirius was still alive but that didn't mean that he wasn't being tortured, that he wasn’t wondering why no one had come to rescue him yet.

And then, the doors were thrown open again. And standing at the head of the crowd that had just come in was Albus Dumbledore. Harry could breathe. Dumbledore might have been ignoring him all year, but this meant Sirius was saved. He could tell Dumbledore. Two people who weren’t sharing in Harry’s happiness at seeing the former Headmaster were Umbridge and Fudge. They were a curious mix between apoplectic with rage at his audacity to set foot in the castle when he was a wanted man, and gleeful that he was right there! They could finally arrest him and have him put in Azkaban where he belonged! Unfortunately, at that moment, the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut and a new note appeared.

_Now that you are all here -introductions will need to be made- the Great Hall has been sealed. You will find that no magic is possible, and time has been frozen inside the hall and it will remain this way until all the books have been read. Food will still be provided as usual and bedding will appear each night. Many truths are about to come out, many unpleasant, however, these can change the future of the wizarding world if you act on them, and all the death and destruction that is to come can be stopped. Of course, should certain information in these books reach the wrong ears, that will be jeopardised. As such, there has been a charm placed on the books, rather like the Fidelius Charm, only instead of a location, it is information that has been hidden. No one will be able to discuss the contents of these books with anyone who is not currently present, without the permission of the secret keeper. The secret keeper who has been chosen has Harry’s best interests at heart more than anyone else in the world and will stop at nothing to keep any information that could harm Harry safe. The secret keeper is of course, Sirius Black._  
_T.R.L_

There was uproar.

‘SIRIUS BLACK?’  
‘NO MAGIC?’  
‘TIME’S BEEN STOPPED?’  
‘IMPOSSIBLE!’

People quickly found out that, yes, somehow, impossibly, their magic was not working. Teachers trying to cast silencing charms over the students, were not able. Students trying to hex each other just to check, were not able. And, yes, somehow, impossibly, time had stopped. Not a watch in the hall continued ticking. And if all that was true, then that meant for some reason, notorious mass murderer, Voldemort’s right hand man, Sirius Black had been entrusted with the secrets of Harry Potter. Harry Potter! The boy he had clearly wanted to kill! Quite possibly no one was more shocked than the man himself.

Harry took notice of none of this. He heard nothing after the words ‘Sirius Black’. Surely, that must mean...but.... Could he dare hope that maybe, just maybe Sirius was okay? Did that mean he was here? And then he saw it. Next to Remus Lupin (oh and how glad he was to see him too), a large, shaggy black dog, tail wagging behind him. Nothing else mattered. There was Sirius right in front of him, with the Order. Safe. Voldemort did not have him, was not torturing him. And that was the last conscious thought Harry had, before vaulting off his bench at the table and racing down to where his Godfather was. Harry didn't show affection, had been starved of it for years, in fact, and would certainly have been embarrassed by this at any other time, that he had been so vulnerable in front of the whole school but that didn't matter right now. The only thing that mattered was that suddenly he was in front of Snuffles and he had his hands in his fur and he was hugging the dog to him, and his Godfather was there. For his part, Sirius was overjoyed that Harry was so happy to see him and had clearly missed him just as much, but he was concerned at the same time. He could feel Harry’s hands shaking as he patted the dog, as if checking for injuries and he could hear him muttering under his breath, as if reassuring himself, ‘he’s ok, he’s here, he’s not hurt, he’s alright’. Something had happened that had shaken Harry nearly beyond anything Sirius had seen before and all he wanted was to be in his human form so he could hug Harry properly.

While much of the hall was watching this strange reunion, and wondering why Harry Potter would have run so fast just to see a dog, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had collapsed with relief, seeing that Sirius was unharmed and Harry would be able to relax finally.  
“Perhaps explanations and introductions are in order for those of us who appeared quite suddenly in the entrance hall,” suggested a jovial Dumbledore, looking quite entertained at the furious faces of Fudge and Umbridge as they realised they would not be able to arrest Dumbledore without magic. “It seems we have been summoned here to read some books about young Mr. Potter and have the truth come out at last. Let me see, joining us we have the Weasley family, Remus Lupin, Alastair Moody, Professor Hagrid is back, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Augusta Longbottom, Arabella Figg, ahhh, Mrs Malfoy, and I do believe those two at the back to be Mrs Petunia Dursley and her son Dudley.”

Harry’s mouth fell open in shock. The Dursleys were here! At Hogwarts. His home! He could only be relieved that Uncle Vernon for some reason had not been brought with them. At least Aunt Petunia knew more about the magical world and Dudley had first hand experience. Either way, somehow they were here - they looked quite terrified at the fact too and were huddled right in the corner of the room, trying to get as far away as possible from all the freaks. Petunia had shoved Dudley behind her the minute she had found her bearings and realised they were in a strange place, full of.. of them, not that it did much, considering he was at least 3 times the size of her, his body flowing out from either side of her bony frame.

Dumbledore, however, was moving on. “Now, if Sirius Black has been named Secret Keeper, he-”

“Hem, hem.” He was cut off by Umbridge, who had finally found her voice after her shock at the turn of what was supposed to be her victory had taken. “While you may have forgotten this being on the run yourself, Dumbldore, but Sirius Black is a mass murderer and cannot be here.”

Dumbledore simply smiled, his eyes twinkling and said in a pleasant voice, “Sirius, if you would like to reveal yourself so we might discuss what we are here for.”

The Great Hall watched in stunned silence as the large dog Harry had been hugging suddenly shifted and grew into a tall, dark-haired, pale looking man.

His first point of business was not to acknowledge the screams and stares that met his appearance, but to seize Harry (ignoring the gasps at his touching of the Boy Who Lived) and tug him into a proper hug, before pulling back to look at his face. “What’s wrong,” he muttered to Harry quietly, “Why were you asking if I was ok? What happened?”  
“I had a vision,” Harry mumbled back, Sirius’ hand flying to gently touch his scar with his thumb, “Voldemort had you, he was torturing you, I thought it was real! Like with Mr. Weasley and we tried to floo call you because Hermione made me check first to see if you were home before I went to find you, but Kreacher was there and he said you’d gone out so I really thought you were gone and then Umbridge found us and then she brought us down here and called everyone and I was just panicking that we were wasting all this time while you were being tortured!” His breath was coming out as gasps, his voice becoming faster and more desperate as he spoke, his words blurring together as he finished explaining to Sirius, all of the stress and panic of the last few hours bursting out of him. Sirius just looked him in the eye, concerned about what seemed to be Voldemort planting false visions in Harry’s head but more focused in that moment on reassuring Harry once again that he was ok, he was right there in front of him. Harry gave a sort of desperate noise before reaching to pull Sirius close to him again.

Only those who knew of Sirius’ innocence seemed unphased by this display. Everyone else sat in shock that Harry Potter was hugging Sirius Black, that Sirius Black seemed to be talking calmly and reassuringly to Harry Potter, that there was an obvious affection between the two. Dudley seemed most surprised that his cousin actually had an adult who liked him and seemed to care for him like a parent would. While strictly speaking he knew that Harry had a Godfather, it hadn’t seemed real when the man had no face to his name. It seemed strange watching him receive the affection that only Dudley had got during their childhood together. Others, like Madam Bones, were thoroughly concerned by the proximity of Black to Harry although the lack of magic at least made him seem less dangerous. Fudge was too stunned to even move or make a sound. Nearly 3 years they had been searching for Black, he had escaped them 2 years ago and now he was here and they couldn’t even arrest him! And Harry Potter was hugging him! While he hated the boy for how difficult he was determined to make Fudge's life, even he was suddenly struggling to believe that Potter would hug Black like that if he was guilty. And a confundus charm wouldn’t last 2 years. But the alternative was much worse. If they really had been telling the truth that night, if it wasn’t some wild tale, well it didn’t bear thinking about.

Whispers slowly began to build as people questioned what was happening. They knew Sirius Black was a murderer but why had he been named Secret Keeper? Why was Harry Potter hugging him? But wait, hadn’t that note said that the secret keeper was chosen because they cared most about Harry? Harry himself chose this moment to break apart from Sirius and step forward.  
“Maybe you should actually let Sirius talk and explain what really happened 15 years ago, after all you never gave him a trial for that.”

Another ripple of shock spread throughout the hall at that. The Muggleborns in particular couldn’t fathom that someone had been sent to prison, to Azkaban, the worst prison in the world, without having had a trial. That wasn’t legal. While no one believed him innocent at this point, many people were outraged on his behalf that he hadn’t even received a trial. Before Umbridge could speak up again to say how ‘he didn’t deserve a trial’ or that ‘a trial was not necessary and the Ministry was doing what was best for the country’, Sirius spoke to the hall.

“My best friend was James Potter. He was my brother in everything but blood. I loved him more than anything, along with his beautiful wife and their perfect son. So when they found out Voldemort -”  
Shudders and yelps were heard across the room as Sirius spoke Voldemort’s name casually. He shook his head and continued. “So when they found out Voldemort was after them and they asked me to be their Secret Keeper, I said yes. I knew I would die before I would ever betray them. Nothing mattered more to me than their safety. Which is when I realised that everyone knew how close me and James were, I was the obvious choice. Voldemort would come straight after me and while I would never willingly betray them, I knew what Voldemort was capable of, I’d been fighting against him since the minute I left school, and I couldn’t risk it, not the Potters’ lives. So I told James to use Peter Pettigrew as their secret keeper. No one would suspect him. A week later, my best friend was dead. I went after Peter, I found him, he shouted for the street to hear that I betrayed Lily and James, he cut off his finger and then with his wand behind his back, he blew up the street and disappeared down the drain. I was found laughing because I was in shock. My best friend was dead, I’d found his body and someone I trusted, someone I would have died for had betrayed us all and then actually managed to outsmart me.”

While most of the hall sat in shocked silence, disbelief that Black really could have been innocent and had been left to rot in Azkaban for all those years (after all the emotion in his voice and on his face as he spoke left little doubt in most people’s mind- no one was that good of an actor), Madam Bones, a fair woman but a woman of the law no less, took it upon herself to question Black further, to complete the story that still had holes in it. “Mr Black, you say he disappeared into a drain. How could he have done that?”

To everyone's surprise, it was Ron who answered the question, before Sirius could. “He was an illegal animagus, Miss.” Gasps echoed around the room.  
“An animagus? How would you know that, Mr -?”  
“Weasley, Miss, Ron Weasley. He was my pet rat, Scabbers. We found out 2 years ago that he was really Peter Pettigrew and he’d been hiding as a rat with my family since Sirius had been arrested. Me, Harry and Hermione saw him transform right in front of us and Sirius and Remus. If those books are about Harry, then that’ll be in one of them. They tried to tell the Minister the truth that night but he wouldn’t listen to them.”

With every new piece of information that came to light, the students within the Great Hall seemed to find new ways to gasp. Never could they have imagined even just an hour before, what they were going to learn that afternoon, and the lies it was now obvious that the Wizarding world was shrouded in. They were now as sure as they could be, without the use of veritaserum, that Sirius Black was innocent. And if something that big had been a lie, then what else could the Ministry be lying about or covering up?

Umbridge was furious, this was not how she had planned this to go. These books were supposed to expose the Potter brat and the nasty lies he’d been telling and instead that hideous Black was having a chance to claim his innocence before they’d even begun reading. She needed to get things back on track.

“Hem, hem. Excuse me but we are here to read these books about Mr Potter’s years at Hogwarts and see the lies he has been telling. Everyone will sit down at once and we will begin the first book, called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“Oh Merlin, think of how many school rules we’ve broken Ron! These books are going to say everything we’ve done!” Hermione hissed at Ron as the group by the doors wandered down to the house tables to find seats.  
“I don’t want to think about it,” he moaned, “just don’t let Mum sit near me, she’s going to kill me when she hears about some of the stuff we’ve done.”

Harry flung himself onto the bench opposite Ron and Hermione, with Sirius and Remus placing themselves protectively in either side of him. Now that he had Sirius with him, and he’d calmed down from that, he could notice the pain in his scar that hadn’t ebbed, and all of sudden, the whole situation he now found himself in seemed to press down on him. He really, really didn’t want people reading about his life. What if his private thoughts were in there? And oh no…. he’s fancied Cho for ages, and that had ended in disaster really, what if that kiss and the date were in the books. He really didn’t need people knowing about that. And all the school rules he’d broken. Even if they were going to learn once and for all that Voldemort really had returned, Umbridge didn’t need an excuse to punish him but boy, oh boy was she going to get the chance to now. It was that which made him speak up quickly before anyone could begin reading the first chapter.  
“Can we agree that no student can be punished for any school rules that are broken in these books? Because it’s already happened and really if they weren’t caught then, it never would have been known without the books so it’s not fair.”

Surprisingly it was Professor McGonagall that spoke up and agreed with Harry, that punishments were not to be given. Severe talking to’s, perhaps, but no detentions or point deductions. She felt angry enough that these books were being read, and that Dumbledore, even though he’d at least come back, was allowing Umbridge to go ahead with her scheme; she felt Harry had suffered enough this year and wanted to make this a bit easier for him so if the promise of no punishment for the students helped, she would allow that. At that, she took the book from Umbridge and announced:

**‘Chapter One - The Boy Who Lived’**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can be found on Tumblr @Lottiebillions - there’s lots of Harry Potter and some Steve Rogers and Little Mix fangirling going on over there. You’ll also be able to find updates on this fic on there.


	2. The Boy Who Lived

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the lines have been removed to try and avoid copyright issues but it should be easy to follow along still, I’ve left in as much as I think I can get away with.

**“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.”**

Petunia, sat huddled with Dudley at the end of the Gryffindor table, momentarily forgot her urge to remain unseen as she sniffed loudly, as if daring anyone to contradict that statement. The scathing looks sent in her direction by all those who surrounded Harry, his real family, quickly notified her that they couldn't care less about what the Dursleys deemed to be normal. Fred and George Weasley were more obvious with their distaste, with Fred exclaiming quite loudly,

“N..n..normal? Who could bear such a burden as that?!”

“Not me, brother, not me. It’s too horrifying to even consider,” George shivered back. It was clear Dudley, who had recognised these twins and was firmly keeping his tongue tucked safely away in his mouth, could not tell whether they were joking, or actually being serious in their horror of normality. For that matter, there were a great number of staff and students who also weren’t one hundred percent certain that the boys were joking.

Harry felt more concerned at the fact that the Dursleys were clearly going to play a larger part in these books than he'd thought, he'd been hoping it would start at his journey to Hogwarts at the earliest. He wasn’t ready for people who had finally started to believe him about Voldemort to see how much weaker he was against his relatives. Not only that but he dreaded Moony and Padfoot’s reaction. He didn’t want them to feel guilty that they hadn’t been the ones to raise him or even worse, in Sirius’ case, feel guilty that he was the reason Harry had even been left on their doorstep. 

**“Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.”**

“Wait, someone actually married him?,” Parvati and Lavender giggled together, “He sounds far too charming!” As they fell to pieces laughing at their joke, Harry had to stifle his snorts. He may not like the Dursleys but he understood how out of place Aunt Petunia would be feeling, and after that strange Howler over the summer, he sensed there was more to her dislike of magic than he knew; the least he could do in this situation was not laugh at her husband. Sirius just looked chuffed that he was clearly the better looking guardian, or at least would be when his name had been officially cleared and Mr Weasley was frantically whispering to Hermione about what exactly was the function of a drill.

**“Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck....... spying on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.”**

It was all McGonagall could do to continue to read on from this line when Sirius seemed to take the last remark as a challenge. 

“Oi Horsey, my pup and your pig, duel after this chapter, then we’ll see who’s the finer boy!”

Harry looked thoroughly alarmed at what his godfather was volunteering him for and it was down to Remus to bring sense to the situation, reminding Sirius that not only was magic blocked during the readings, but Dudley would not be able to duel and the muggle version was out of the question, unless they wanted to take home a Harry pancake. 

Many Slytherins, of the pureblood variety, most particularly Malfoy, looked disgusted that a muggle could be deemed a fine boy, nevermind the most fine. Although the reunion with Sirius had been sweet to many, nothing had yet happened to change Malfoy’s mind about Potter. 

**“The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it….in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be…..This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that.”**

Sirius could just about handle the slights against Lily and James, he knew that they had very much disliked the Dursleys too, despite Lily’s attempts at patching things up with her sister, but nobody insulted his beautiful Godson and got away with it. It didn’t matter that he couldn't use magic yet, he was extraordinary at holding a grudge and they couldn't keep his magic away from him forever. For now, he would settle for threatening growls aimed in the direction of Petunia, his dog side creeping in. For that matter, even Remus’ eyes were looking remarkably wolf-like, flashing in anger at the disrespect shown to his family. 

**“When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be hap- pening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.”**

Amused faces all across the hall turned to stare at Dudley, it was remarkably easy to picture the scene; after all, if anyone still had his baby fat, it was Dudley. And though Dudley didn’t really know wizard teenagers, he knew enough about teenagers in general to feel embarrassed by his actions as a baby. While he didn’t mind screaming like that still in front of his parents and Harry in order to get his own way, he didn't expect for other people ever to be privy to that and that was embarrassing.

**"None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. ‘Little tyke,’ chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house.”**

Mr and Mrs Weasley looked appalled at that parenting while the teachers were horrified that such behaviour was being rewarded. Every Weasley child was rubbing their behind, shuddering at the thought of ever throwing a paddy like that in front of their parents. Even Narcissa Malfoy was grateful that her son, while spoilt and prone to a temper tantrum or two, had never been that bad. Sirius, for some reason known only to him, decided that Harry should share in Dudley’s embarrassment: “Here, Remmy, remember the hissy fits Prongslet used to have when Lily wouldn’t let him near the cat.”

Laughter burst out of Remus, and suddenly he looked 10 years younger, his scarred face lined with laughter instead of grief. Tonks made a note to thank Sirius for his choice in friends - she found Remus undeniably handsome with his face contorted in pure joy. While Harry made an indignant noise of protest at the laughter that had met Sirius’ words, he couldn’t help but laugh too, seeing how happy his Godfather looked in that moment. It wasn’t often he saw Sirius smile, and after what he had seen that afternoon in his vision, he treasured every moment of it. 

“Prongslet?” he enquired quietly, for Padfoot and Moony’s ears only.This felt private, he’d never had a nickname, not an affectionate one anyway. Sirius grinned slightly, “It’s what we called you when Lily was pregnant and we didn't know if you were a boy or a girl. James loved it, was chuffed to be starting the next generation of Marauders. Then when you were born it became Little Prongs as well. You too old for it now?”

“Nah, I don’t mind it.” he said nonchalantly, but really he loved it. It gave him that bit more of a connection to his father, just like his patronus. 

**“He got into his car and backed out of number four’s drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map…….no,** **_looking_ ** **at the sign; cats couldn’t read maps** **_or_ ** **signs.”**

“Ten galleons on that cat being Minnie,” Sirius proclaimed loudly. Remus struggled to hide his grin as McGonagall’s nostrils flared. As much as she hated that nickname though, she couldn’t help but be glad that Sirius Black had recovered enough from Azkaban to remember what he and James had always been so fond of calling her. It may have earned them detention everytime, but they’d refused to call her anything else. Nonetheless, she could see the Weasley twins looking all too excited at the prospect of using that name themselves and so she replied, “You are very lucky Mr. Black, that I can no longer give you detention,” giving him her sternest gaze. 

Gulps could be heard from across the hall, despite it not being aimed at them.

**“Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind……...People in cloaks. Mr Dursley couldn’t bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.”**

“Why would people wearing cloaks be weird, unless it was a boiling hot day or something?” Anthony Goldstein asked curiously. Hermione sighed in exasperation as she explained that Muggles wore coats, not cloaks and so seeing a group of people all wearing them would seem very peculiar. It infuriated her, and even Harry to an extent, how obtuse some wizards were about the muggle world. They had no idea how muggles really lived, and even Mr. Weasley, who quite clearly loved muggle inventions, were guilty of viewing them to be almost like another species, not people of the same intelligence who did the same things wizards did, just without magic to aid them. 

**“He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together…...Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.”**

“Why would we be acting so obvious in the muggle world, we’re always told to be discrete?”

Several of the adults gulped as they began to realise what day this might have been. Remus turned an alarmingly pale shade of white, while Professor McGonagall had to take a steadying breath. She didn’t want to have to relieve this day. 

“If you could allow me to continue, you may find out.”

 **“Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn’t, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.** **_He_ ** **didn’t see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.”**

“They're just owls, why would you care about them, unless it was tons of snowy ones like Potter’s owl?” asked a third year Hufflepuff. McGonagall simply gave him her infamous stern gaze and forcefully continued...

**“Most of them had never seen an owl even at night- time.”**

“Ahh, that would explain it. How do they deliver their mail then?” he bashfully asked. 

“Ask Mrs. Weasley,” Harry snickered under his breath. At the gale of laughter that came from the twins, Ron, Ginny and Hermione, who had all heard his comment, and consequently the fresh determination McGonagall felt to just get on with the chapter so the books could actually be finished within a month, the Hufflepuff’s question was forgotten.

**“Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he’d stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker’s opposite.”**

“Merlin, I thought McGonagall needed to be sent back to St. Mungos for a minute there when she said Uncle Vernon willingly walked somewhere but it makes sense now that it was for food.” Harry snickered. Since seeing Sirius perk up at riling Professor McGonagall up, he’d decided he was not going to hold his snarky comments back, at least not the ones at his Uncle’s expense. 

Everyone else just looked disgusted at the man’s obscene personality. 

**“He’d forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker’s. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn’t know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn’t see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**‘The Potters, that’s right, that’s what I heard –’ ‘– yes, their son, Harry –’ Mr Dursley stopped dead.”**

It was Sirius’ turn to pale as he caught onto what day this was. He did not want to hear about it, Azkaban had not given him the time to grieve and with everything that had happened since his escape, he still hadn’t allowed himself to think about it. The last thing he needed was to break down in front of his Godson. Said Godson had quickly ducked his head as people around him looked at him in pity, many older students realising too. His breathing had quickened but he was determined not to acknowledge it. Snape grasped the arms of his chair so tightly his knuckles went sheet white - Lily’s death would never not be agony to him.

**“Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking ... no, he was being stupid.”**

“Him? Stupid? I can’t believe it.” Ron exclaimed. He was pleased to get a faint smile from Harry.

**“Potter wasn’t such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure his nephew was called Harry. He’d never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.”**

“He didn’t know your name?!” Mrs Weasley and Hermione shrieked. Harry just groaned, he dreaded to think how they would react to how Uncle Vernon spoke to him if this was how worked up they were already. Padfoot was making himself apparent, as Sirius growled lowly. 

**“There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn’t blame her – if** **_he’d_ ** **had a sister like that ... but all the same, those people in cloaks …”**

Surprisingly enough, it was McGonagall herself who interrupted the reading this time, but Lily had always been a favourite of hers, and she was reaching her limit of how much more of this she could read. 

“Mrs Dursley, perhaps you could explain to us exactly what he means about a ‘ _sister like that_ ’ ?” she asked in a low tone. 

Petunia turned a deathly shade of white at being addressed so directly in a room full of wizards,who had clearly liked her dratted sister. Her cheekbones stood more prominent than ever as she averted her eyes, ignoring the question and focusing on her son instead. Professor McGonagall decided she didn’t care to force an answer she knew she would hate and continued. 

**“He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon…...‘Sorry,’ he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.”**

“Sorry?! He actually said sorry to someone?” Harry asked in baffled bemusement. The Order glanced at each other warily, it didn’t bode well that Harry seemed so shocked at his Uncle being polite. 

**“It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn’t seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare: ‘Don’t be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy happy day!’ And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off.”**

‘Ohhs’ and ‘Aahs’ echoed around the Great Hall as the rest of the students found out the reason for all the overt behaviour of wizards on that day, and the significance of this day in the story of Harry Potter. The pitying glances directed towards Harry doubled as he ignored them as resolutely as ever.

Umbridge took this opportunity to draw attention to her purpose for even reading the books. “See,” she simpered, “You-Know-Who died just under 15 years ago. It is simply Potter lying when he claims he has returned. It is impossible.” Harry clenched his teeth but managed to prevent himself from shouting at her; after all, she would be eating her words by the fourth book.

**“Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger……...‘Shoo!’ said Mr Dursley loudly. The cat didn’t move. It just gave him a stern look.”**

“Definitely Minnie,” Sirius laughed. He could only deal with this day with laughter, like he had when it had actually happened. Harry was pondering whether he had actually ever seen Uncle Vernon be hugged, sure he kissed Aunt Petunia on the cheek but he didn't think he’d actually ever seen her or Dudley hug him. There was probably a good reason for that though. He couldn’t contain his surprise that the short man’s arms had actually fit around his waist, and he could see Ron was entertained by that thought as well.

**“Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.”**

“Ah, very Gryffindor of him, I’d say Forge.”

“Much agreed, Gred.”

Eyes were rolled at the names. 

**“Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door’s problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (‘Shan’t!’).......The news reader allowed himself a grin. ‘Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?’**

**‘Well, Ted,’ said the weatherman,”**

“That’s my dad!” Tonks exclaimed. She regretted it a second later. While Harry looked suitably piqued by that revelation, she could see Mr. Weasley building up his excitement. She respected and liked the man, certainly, but she wasn’t ready for the full force of his animation about anything muggle. 

**“ ‘I don’t know about that, but it’s not only the owls that have been acting oddly today…….But I can promise a wet night tonight.’**

**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters …”**

“We really were shockingly obvious that night. It’s a wonder nothing serious happened.” Kingsley muttered. 

**“Mrs Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He’d have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. ‘Er – Petunia, dear – you haven’t heard from your sister lately, have you?’**

**As he had expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn’t have a sister.”**

It was Remus who snapped. Lily had done so much for him, had been such an amazing friend, and here was someone who should have loved her the most, second only to James and eventually Harry, who had thrown all that away because of something Lily had been born with. 

“You know Petunia,” he spat, “If you had just pulled that stick up your backside out for two minutes, you’d have realised Lily did everything she could to make you feel included, and sacrificed so much just to make you feel better about yourself. She loved you to the end even though she deserved so much better than you.”

Petunia was thoroughly shaken, her face an ashy grey. This was the reason she didn’t like thinking of her sister! Thinking about it made it harder to hold onto that feeling of hatred and lingering on any other emotion would be too painful. She bit back, “She was a freak, I chose to protect my family from that. She made her choice, I made mine.” 

Sirius and Remus both looked murderous as they gripped Harry tightly. 

**“ ‘No,’ she said sharply. ‘Why?’.......... Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he’d heard the name ‘Potter’. He decided he didn’t dare.**

It was Petunia who felt angry now. He should have told her! She’d always known that Lily would wind up dead because of the world she had got herself involved with. If Vernon had told her what he’d put together maybe she could have been prepared to find that boy on her doorstep!

**“Instead he said, as casually as he could, ‘Their son – he’d be about Dudley’s age now, wouldn’t he?’**

**‘I suppose so,’ said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

**‘What’s his name again? Howard, isn’t it?’**

**‘Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me.’**

**‘Oh, yes,’ said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. ‘Yes, I quite agree.’ ”**

“Well, that explains why they always preferred to call me Freak or Boy.” Harry regretted the words the second they slipped out. But it was too late, the damage had been done. Everyone fell silent and stared in horror at him. They’d heard Petunia call Lily a freak but they couldn’t imagine that she’d go so far as to call her kid nephew, who’d seen his parents murdered in front of him, such names. Harry tried to laugh it off as a joke but it was Mr. Weasley who growled, “This isn’t a joke, Harry. We’re not laughing it off.” He flushed red in embarrassment. Okay, his family hadn’t actually told him his real name until he started primary school, but it didn’t matter anymore. He knew his name, and his friends did too so there was no point in getting angry over this. When he pointed this out, it was apparent no one else agreed with him. Dudley’s eyes were flying back and forth between his mother who was gulping at the hostility floating down the bench towards them, and his cousin, surrounded by all his friends. It was finally beginning to dawn on him that perhaps his family had not treated Harry exactly as they should have. Snape was fighting with himself, determined not to feel sympathetic towards Potter, so what if they hadn’t called him by his name, that was nothing compared to his own childhood, and Potter was still arrogant. Malfoy found it amusing that even Potter’s relatives didn’t like him - he had known this really since first year when Potter had stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas but he was still surprised by the level of animosity. McGonagall decided that talking to Potter about his relatives could wait and decided to take pity on his desperate face and decided to move on.

 **“He didn’t say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there……..He couldn’t see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn’t affect** **_them._ **

**How very wrong he was.”**

“He just had to go and jinx it, didn’t he? So he’s really only got himself to blame for having to raise Harry, you can tell your daddy that, Dudley mate.” Bill spoke up for the first time. Dudley looked quite alarmed at being spoken to by someone with a fang earring. Harry smirked appreciatively at Bill.

**“Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness…….A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you’d have thought he’d just popped out of the ground. The cat’s tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt…...his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.”**

**“This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore.”**

“Well, colour me shocked. I would never in a million years have guessed it was Dumbledore of all people.” Fred and George whispered loudly in greatly exaggerated theatrics.

**“Albus Dumbledore didn’t seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.”**

“Oh no, I was quite aware of that. It rather adds to the enjoyment, I find.” he said, his eyes twinkling in amusement. 

The twins' shock was no longer feigned as they reverently breathed, “Merlin, he’s one of us." 

**“He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realise he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, ………Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.”**

Hermione was very impressed. It was well known that technology and magic did not mix so the fact that Dumbledore was able to manipulate electricity made her eager to get to the library, to do some research on how the conflict between the two could be overcome. 

Ron asked loudly, “Mind leaving that to me Sir? I’d like to use it on Fred and George.” While Molly scolded him for being so rude, Dumbledore winked at Ron. 

**“If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn’t be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement…...‘Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.’ He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman…….She looked distinctly ruffled.”**

“Not a word, Messrs. Weasleys, Black and Lupin, not a word.” McGonagall preemptively **.**

Dudley looked baffled at the fact that this professor had just been a cat and no one was even questioning it. Apparently witches liked cats even more than in the fairytales. Petunia pursed her lips in distaste at the most blatant mention of magic in the story so far. 

**“ ‘How did you know it was me?’ she asked.**

**‘My dear Professor, I’ve never seen a cat sit so stiffly.’ ”**

Snorts were heard across the hall, Professor McGonagall’s lips pressing into a thin line. 

**“ ‘You’d be stiff if you’d been sitting on a brick wall all day,’ said Professor McGonagall.**

**‘All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here.’ ”**

“Oh yes, let’s all celebrate the fact that two people were murdered and their baby son left behind, that sounds respectful,” Sirius snarled sarcastically. While he’d been in Azkaban already at this point, it grated him that people had been throwing parties straight away. In his mind, James and Lily had deserved to be mourned by everyone first.

A gentle, yet firm squeeze to his shoulder by Remus reigned his anger in. He knew deep down, if it had been anyone but his best friends, he would have been the first to all those parties. 

**“Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. ‘Oh yes, everyone’s celebrating, all right,’ she said impatiently. ‘You’d think they’d be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed something’s going on. It was on their news.’ She jerked her head back at the Dursleys’ dark living-room window…….She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn’t, so she went on: ‘A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You- Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really** **_has_ ** **gone, Dumbledore?’**

**‘It certainly seems so,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?’ ”**

“You’re talking about You-”, Harry shot her a quick glare, “V-Voldemort disappearing and you offer her a sherbet lemon?” Hermione asked Professor Dumbledore incredulously. She knew Dumbledore was a bit eccentric - for lack of a better word- but this, really? 

Dumbledore just replied serenely, “I find them to have a calming effect.”

“I’m sorry, but what exactly is a sherbert lemon?” Zacharias Smith interrupted in a bored voice. He could not care less about Potter’s life, the least they could do was explain whatever they were blathering on about.

 **“ ‘A** **_what_ ** **?’ ‘A sherbet lemon. They’re a kind of Muggle sweet I’m rather fond of.’**

**‘No, thank you,’ said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn’t think this was the moment for sherbet lemons.”**

_Exactly_ , is what Hermione’s face said. 

**“ ‘As I say, even if You-Know-Who** **_has_ ** **gone –’**

 **‘My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this “You-Know-Who” nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name:** **_Voldemort_ ** **.’ Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. ‘It all gets so confusing if we keep saying “You- Know-Who”.’ I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort’s name.’ ”**

“Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” Harry said pointedly, looking at all of the students and adults who flinched each time Voldemort’s name was said, particularly the Weasleys. Dudley just looked relieved at Dumbledore’s words - he was trying to keep up with this unbelievable story where cats were women and sherbet lemons were an unknown entity and all this talk of ‘You-Know-Who’ was just too complicated. 

**“ ‘I know you haven’t,’ said Professor McGonagall, sounding half- exasperated, half-admiring. ‘But you’re different. Everyone knows you’re the only one You-Know – oh, all right,** **_Voldemort –_ ** **was frightened of.’**

**‘You flatter me,’ said Dumbledore calmly. ‘Voldemort had powers I will never have.’ ”**

“Only because we all know you’re too noble to use them, Dumbledore,” Sirius snarked. Professor McGonagall looked horrified as she read on while Albus smiled knowingly. 

**“ ‘Only because you’re too – well –** **_noble_ ** **to use them.’ ”**

Remus burst into laughter, “Talking like Minnie, now Padfoot? Should we just call you Professor Black? Merlin, how betrayed Prongs would feel! ”

Sirius scowled, “You betrayed him first Moony. Oh sorry, I meant _Professor Lupin._ I can’t help that great minds think alike. Prongs would be proud of me right now, I mean look how aghast Minnie looks!” 

Harry was in fits of laughter watching the banter between his father’s best friends. He was so grateful to finally have them in his life.

**“ ‘It’s lucky it’s dark. I haven’t blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs.’ ”**

The majority of the entire hall looked positively ill at that sentence. They really did not need to know that about their ancient headmaster. He just looked thoroughly amused at the reaction to his words. Fred and George, forever the exception, were gaining more and more respect to the old man for his entertaining little comments. 

**“Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, ‘The owls are nothing to the** **_rumours_ ** **that are flying around. You know what everyone’s saying? About why he’s disappeared? About what finally stopped him?’ ”**

All humour was abruptly sucked out of the hall at this blunt reminder of what they were reading about. Sirius swallowed audibly, Remus’ hands clenched into fists on his lap and Harry took a deep breath, hand pressed to his scar. 

**“It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever ‘everyone’ was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another sherbet lemon and did not answer.**

**‘What they’re** **_saying_ ** **,’ she pressed on, ‘is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric’s Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they’re -** **_dead_ ** **.’ ”**

Sirius couldn’t stop the low moan from escaping. Nothing had ever been more painful than seeing their bodies. If it wasn’t for Harry, and wanting to provide proper comfort for his Godson, he would have turned into Padfoot, just to escape the painful emotions. Hermione, Ron and Ginny all wanted to comfort Harry too, but they thought it best to allow Sirius, Remus and Harry to draw comfort from each other. The three of them sat, the two adults with an arm around their Prongslet each, Harry tucking his head into Sirius’ shoulder. 

**“Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**‘Lily and James ... I can’t believe it ... I didn’t want to believe it ... Oh, Albus ...’ ”**

Harry looked up at his head of house, oddly touched by this. He’d never realised how much she had cared about his parents. She sent him a sad smile in return. The truth was, her heart had broken when she’d heard the news; she’d spent six years watching James Potter attempt to get Lily Evans to go out with him, and one year watching Lily Evans fall in love with James Potter: she spent the four years after that watching them get married, start a family, and be the life of Order meetings. There had been no one she had wanted to get through the war more than them and their beloved little boy. 

**“Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. ‘I know ... I know ...’ he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall’s voice trembled as she went on. ‘That’s not all. They’re saying he tried to kill the Potters’ son, Harry. But – he couldn’t. He couldn’t kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they’re saying that when he couldn’t kill Harry Potter, Voldemort’s power somehow broke – and that’s why he’s gone.’**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. ‘It’s – it’s** **_true_ ** **?’ faltered Professor McGonagall.”**

“Harry says thanks for the vote of confidence, Professor.”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t you have expected iccle baby Harrikins to have defeated an evil dark wizard?”

The Weasley twins’ attempt to lighten the mood worked somewhat, as faint smiles were seen all around, and McGonagall’s lips quirked upwards briefly. As infuriating as those boys could be, they cared deeply about their family, and she knew they included Harry in that. She was glad the young man, who had been through so much in his short life already, had people like them always looking out for him. 

**“ ‘After all he’s done ... all the people he’s killed ... he couldn’t kill a little boy? It’s just astounding ... of all the things to stop him ... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?’**

**‘We can only guess,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We may never know.’ ”**

“It was my mother. It wasn’t me that stopped Voldemort. My mum was the hero, not me.” Harry said firmly. Sirius and Remus gave him watery smiles, pleased at the proudness in his voice when he spoke of Lily, despite never really knowing her. Petunia looked surprised that her sister was considered a hero, as far as she was concerned, she had got mixed up in this magic nonsense and got blown up for it. There was nothing heroic about Lily leaving her son to be taken in by her. Snape frowned slightly, not having expected Potter to pass off any hero notion onto Lily. He should be claiming all the credit for himself, being as obnoxious as his father. Zacharias Smith just looked like he had been proved right that Harry was nothing special.

**“Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch………. ‘Hagrid’s late. I suppose it was he who told you I’d be here, by the way?’**

**‘Yes,’ said Professor McGonagall. ‘And I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me why you’re here, of all places?’**

**‘I’ve come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They’re the only family he has left now.’ ”**

“Not true anymore. You have us Weasleys always, Harry,” Ron said fiercely, as if daring someone to contradict him. 

“Me too,” Hermione added.

“And us two, obviously. You’ve had us from the day you were born, Cub. Before, even.” Remus supplied.

“I’ll always be available too, Harry,” Neville said quietly to Harry. He knew best of all how Harry felt, he’d lost his parents too, but at least he’d had his Gran. Harry felt warm inside, like he could produce the best Patronus in the world, if any Dementor dared come near him now.

 **“ ‘You don’t mean – you** **_can’t_ ** **mean the people who live** **_here?’_ ** **cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. ‘Dumbledore – you can’t. I’ve been watching them all day. You couldn’t find two people who are less like us. And they’ve got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!’ ”**

“Thanks for fighting for me, Professor. I appreciate it.” 

“I’m simply sorry I didn’t argue more, Mr. Potter.”

**“ ‘It’s the best place for him,’ said Dumbledore firmly. ‘His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he’s older. I’ve written them a letter.’ ”**

“A letter? You left a letter? Whether the woman liked Lily or not, her sister had just been murdered and was being asked to raise another small child!” Mrs Weasley exclaimed. 

Dumbledore glanced at Petunia, face pinched as she recalled reading that horrible letter, and replied, “Yes, I realise now that perhaps I ought to have spoken to Mrs. Dursley in person. I was simply eager to get Harry there, and it was rather too late at night to knock on the door. I apologise most sincerely Mrs. Dursley.” 

Petunia chose to ignore this. She wasn’t quite sure which one would have been worse.

**“ ‘A letter?’ repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. ‘Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He’ll be famous – a legend – I wouldn’t be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!’ ”**

Harry’s face was a perfect picture of horror as his head shot up. 

“There’s not a day called ‘Harry Potter Day’ is there?” he asked desperately. 

Snape sneered at him, “Contrary to your own popular opinion of yourself Mr. Potter, Halloween remains to be named just that. Not everything is about you. Although, with a godfather like yours, I can imagine why you might think the world revolves around a Potter.”

Before Sirius could do much more than stand up furiously, Dumbledore had silenced Snape with a stern look, disappointment obvious in his eyes. 

**“ ‘Exactly,’ said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. ‘It would be enough to turn any boy’s head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won’t even remember! Can’t you see how much better off he’ll be, growing up away from all that until he’s ready to take it?’ ”**

“I mean, yeah I’m glad I didn’t grow up knowing I was famous, but I wished I’d found out more than a month before I started Hogwarts so maybe I could have been prepared for everyone staring at me _all the time_ **.”** Harry remarked casually.

Several people quickly glanced awkwardly away from him, having been staring once again. 

**“Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, ‘Yes – yes, you’re right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?’ She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.”**

There were sniggers at the image this created in people’s mind. 

**“ ‘Hagrid’s bringing him.’**

**‘You think it –** **_wise_ ** **– to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?’**

**‘I would trust Hagrid with my life,’ said Dumbledore.”**

“I would trust you with my life too, Hagrid,” Harry smiled up at him.

Hagrid beamed happily back at him.

**‘I’m not saying his heart isn’t in the right place,’ said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, ‘but you can’t pretend he’s not careless.”**

“I apologise for that, Hagrid,” McGonagall said bashfully.

“Ah, no’ teh worry, Minerva,” he brushed off, “I know yeh meant no offense.”

**“ ‘He does tend to – what was that?’**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.”**

“Wicked!” the twins whispered. 

Sirius’ face lit up at the mention of his motorbike - he’d almost forgotten of its existence and the fact he'd given it to Hagrid before he went off to find the traitorous rat.

 **“If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so** **_wild_ ** **– long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**‘Hagrid,’ said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. ‘At last. And where did you get that motorbike?’**

**‘Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir,’ said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. ‘Young Sirius Black lent it me. I’ve got him, sir.’ ”**

Harry looked at Sirius, shocked that he had a flying motorcycle, and that he’d given it up to Hagrid so Harry would be safe. Sirius grasped his hand and squeezed, wishing more than anything he had just taken Harry away with him on the motorcycle. 

“Did you not question it, Sir, that Sirius had helped Hagrid take Harry. If he’d been working for Voldemort, why wouldn’t he have killed Harry while he had the chance?” Tonks asked the old headmaster. 

“I wondered, but then news came in of Sirius apparently blowing up that street and murdering Pettigrew, along with all those muggles and there seemed to be no doubt of his guilt. I’ll admit I didn’t give it any thought after that.”

**“ ‘No problems, were there?’**

**‘No, sir – house was almost destroyed but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin’ around. He fell asleep as we was flyin’ over Bristol.’**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.”**

“Ah, yes. You were doomed with the Potter hair from the minute you were born.” Remus reminisced, smiling slightly, which turned to a frown when he remembered the baby Harry without a scar, the time when they’d all been happy.

**“ ‘Is that where –?’ whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**‘Yes,’ said Dumbledore. ‘He’ll have that scar for ever.’**

**‘Couldn’t you do something about it, Dumbledore?’**

**‘Even if I could, I wouldn’t. Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground.”**

“Sir, you really do have a habit of oversharing,” Charlie grinned, his comment met with laughter.

**“Well – give him here, Hagrid – we’d better get this over with.’**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys’ house.**

**‘Could I – could I say goodbye to him, sir?’ asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.”**

Sirius looked insulted.

**“ ‘Shhh!’ hissed Professor McGonagall. ‘You’ll wake the Muggles!’**

**‘S-s-sorry,’ sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted handker- chief and burying his face in it. ‘But I c-c-can’t stand it – Lily an’ James dead – an’ poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles –’ ”**

Harry smiled gently up at Hagrid, silently thanking him for the emotion he’d felt for both him and his parents. He really was a good friend, the BFG epitomised. He laughed to himself, imagining trying to explain that to Ron.

**“ ‘Yes, yes, it’s all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we’ll be found,’ Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry’s blankets and then came back to the other two.”**

“Hang on a moment! The doorstep! You left on the doorstep, in only a blanket, in November, with Death Eaters still on the loose, who would have liked nothing more than to kill the baby who had defeated their master?” To say Sirius was mad was the understatement of the century. That was his godson! His pup! His Little Prongs! Dumbledore had never been so glad for the absence of magic. Not only would Sirius have probably killed him three times over by now, he was fairly sure he could see literal steam pouring out of Molly Weasley’s ears. 

He did defend himself however, “Sirius, I assure I placed charms on his blankets to keep him warm, unable to roll off the step, and made it so he wouldn’t be noticed by anyone but the Durselys. He was perfectly safe from wizards, muggles and the weather alike.”

Sirius’ ferocious glare lessened a minute amount.

**“For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid’s shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore’s eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**‘Well,’ said Dumbledore finally, ‘that’s that. We’ve no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations.’**

**‘Yeah,’ said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. ‘I’d best get this bike away. G’night, Professor McGonagall – Professor Dumbledore, sir.’ ”**

“You know Hagrid, I never did get that bike back,” Sirius laughed without humour. Hagrid, not noticing this, eagerly told him that he still had it. Sirius looked like a kid at christmas, a giddy excitement overtaking him at the thought of being able to ride it again. He could even bring Harry along with him now! That was first on his list of what to do as soon as they could leave the hall.

**“Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on to the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**‘I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall,’ said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.”**

“My, my, my Minnie. And you lectured us on our manners.” chided Sirius, still bouncing in his seat. Professor McGonagall glared at him but she really had no response to that. 

**“Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer…...‘Good luck, Harry,’ he murmured.”**

“Yeah, I’m gonna need it.” Harry muttered lowly, only Sirius and Remus hearing it, exchanging concerned glances over his head. 

**“He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky…...not knowing he would be woken in a few hours’ time by Mrs Dursley’s scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles,”**

Snape struggled to hide his wince at the thought; he wouldn’t wish Petunia’s horrendous shrieking on anyone.

**“nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley ... He couldn’t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: ‘To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!’**

Katie Bell, sat just further down the Gryffindor table was the first to talk after Professor McGonagall finished the chapter: “Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore sir, I get that you were like the leader in the fight against Voldemort but I don’t understand why you had the authority to decide where Harry was raised? Surely his parents had friends who would have happily raised him in the muggle world so why did you put him with his relatives who were clearly horrible people?”

Dumbledore opened his mouth to answer, surely with the same non-answer he had always given Harry, but Ginny interrupted him.

“Yeah, Professor Lupin was best friends with Harry’s dad. Why couldn’t he have raised Harry?” 

It was Remus who replied, quietly. “I’m a werewolf, Ginny. They don’t let people like me have kids. But I did try to get custody of him.” 

Harry’s head nearly fell off his shoulders at the speed at which he whipped around to stare at him. “You..you tried to get me out of there, you wanted to raise me?” he whispered in shock, eyes fixed on Remus, and the haunted look in his eyes.

“Yes. 6 months after..after it happened. I went to the Ministry. I-I felt like I was falling down a cliff and only the thought of you being alive was keeping me going and I knew I owed it to James and Lily to raise you how they would have wanted you to be. I knew Dumbledore had put you with Lily’s sister but I'd met her at their wedding and knew it was the last place they would have wanted you to be. The Ministry people laughed in my face when I tried to even just request a meeting to discuss it, and I just had to live in hope that you were happy and they were treating you fairly. I know I shouldn’t have, but I’d lost everything by then, and I couldn’t bring myself to fight anymore,” he whispered hoarsely. 

He turned to look at Harry beseechingly, pleading with him to understand why he hadn’t taken Harry away from his Aunt and Uncle. “Please Harry, you have to understand. I was underground with the werewolves at the time, trying to convince them not to join Voldemort. I had no contact with anyone else and I got back on the 2nd of November, expecting to meet up with everyone for Sirius’ birthday. Except, I got home and Dumbledore was sitting there and I knew straight away something had gone horribly wrong. He showed me the front page of the Daily Prophet that was still exclaiming over how ‘You-Know-Who’ had gone and I didn't understand why he looked so sad. I remember saying to him ‘This means James, Lily and Harry can come out of hiding now, James will be ecstatic!’ And he just shook his head at me and said ‘Voldemort went to Godric’s Hollow on Halloween.’ And I knew straight away, but I couldn’t believe it. I thought you were gone too, Cub. That was the worst. You were never just James and Lily’s son, you were always the Marauders’ son. We all loved you so much, you were the only bright spot in the war, the reason we were fighting, so in the future you could fly around in the garden instead of the lounge, so James could take you on adventures in the woods as Prongs. And all 3 of you were gone, just like that. I asked Dumbldore where Sirius and Peter were, it hadn't dawned on me that Sirius was supposedly secret keeper and involved in all this until Dumbledore suddenly looked furious, I'd never seen him look that angry. And he told me Sirius had betrayed you all and that Peter had gone after him so Sirius had killed him too. I think I blacked out at that. Three of my best friends, the only people who truly loved and accepted me for who I was, had all been killed and the fourth was responsible for it all and already in prison, and the baby who I thought of as my nephew was dead too.” It was in a ragged voice, he admitted that, “I wished I’d died too at that point. I truly felt I had nothing left in the world. It was more painful than a thousand cruciatus curses could ever be. It was absolute agony.” 

The whole hall was deadly silent. Every third year student and above had all been taught by Professor Lupin and thought he was brilliant (even if some of them would never admit that outloud) and they’d never realised what he’d gone through, what he had lost in the First Wizarding War. Hermione, Ginny, Tonks and Mrs Weasley were all sobbing quietly, while all the staff who had taught the Marauders looked quite devastated, knowing how close those boys had been. Sirius had squeezed his eyes closed as tightly as possible, taking in gasping breaths. Moony hadn’t deserved any of that pain, what he wouldn’t give to change what had happened, to have been there to grieve with him at the very least. He knew how awful the first few full moons would have been for Remus, alone for them for the first time in years. Harry had been taught from an early age not to cry, but his eyes were burning horribly, and there was a lump in his throat he couldn’t seem to swallow around. He knew he had people who cared about him, Mrs Weasley had often shown that, and he knew Sirius did, but he’d never heard someone speak so emotionally about him and what his death could mean to them. Petunia and Snape were the two who felt most unbalanced by the emotions they felt hearing Lupin talk. They’d both loved Lily, in their own ways, and it had never really dawned on them that someone else had died that night, a whole family torn apart, leaving more to grieve than just Lily for some people. They had not had it the worst, even if they both liked to think that. 

Remus continued, “Before Dumbledore left, he told me that you’d survived. That it was you, Prongslet, who’d somehow beaten Voldemort but I didn't really register that until I had to organise the funeral. It felt wrong that you weren’t there but I was so glad you weren’t because what if you’d seen their bodies and shouted for them, thinking they were just asleep? I was so, so glad you were alive, it nearly made me weak just thinking that at least I had you, but at the time, I wouldn’t have survived seeing you everyday, not when you would have been looking for them, and reminding me constantly that they were gone. I just sank into a depression , I couldn’t get up, no one hired me for long anyway, once I missed several days for the moon, but I didn’t see the point in trying so damned hard constantly to find a new one because there was nothing else left for me. Then after six months, something just changed in me and I had to find you. I wanted nothing more than to just see your face and hold you but when they told me no, I gave up. I resigned myself to never seeing you again, to you never knowing your 3 uncles and the mum and dad who loved you more than anything in the world. I wish I’d kept trying, even if I failed, at least I could say that I had done everything I could but I didn't and I'm so sorry for that Harry. It’s my fault you’re unhappy every summer. You deserved so much better.” 

Harry just stared soundlessly back at Remus. He couldn’t believe how guilty he sounded, of course it wasn't his fault at all! He’d lost his best friends. Lord knows he wouldn’t be able to raise a child straight away if Ron and Hermione and Sirius were all killed in the space of a day. He didn’t know how to say that though, he wasn’t great at expressing his feelings so instead he pulled Remus into a tight hug like he had with Sirius earlier, gripping him close and refusing to feel embarrassed about all the eyes watching them. He’d never realised just how much he meant to Remus but he had taken on a new appreciation for him. Sirius quickly stretched over to join the hug, he of all people knew the guilt and loneliness Moony was feeling and damned if his best friend, his only friend left, would feel alone anymore. Once he was free, it would be him, Harry and Remus against the world - and Tonks, he supposed, if Remus ever got his act together. 

Sniffing slightly, Professor McGonagall passed the book over to Professor Sprout, to read the next chapter. It was time to move on and give Harry and his father’s best friends some privacy (Dumbledore was just pleased he had managed to avoid the questions surrounding his placement of Harry at the Dursleys, Madam Bones had been looking very concerned at the point around Dumbledore's authority to do so). Umbridge was also sick of the sympathy the brat was getting, along with the filthy half-breed, she wanted to get to the lies, not the silly muggles. 

**“Chapter Two - The Vanishing Glass”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to point out any errors, obviously I read over it but I'm likely to miss some.  
> Please let me know if you thought there were too many interruptions, if the interruptions were too long etc, or if more dialogue was needed. I struggled most with this chapter, trying to get a feel for each of the characters and honestly it’s hard to remember to include all the different characters!  
> The ending was very heavy on Remus' story but I do think how much he suffered is very underestimated. Updates are going to be either once a week, or once a fortnight, depending on how busy I am. But, they'll always be on a Thursday, so if there's not an update one Thursday, there'll definitely be one the next Thursday. Have a good week!
> 
> I can be found on Tumblr @Lottiebillions - there’s lots of Harry Potter and some Steve Rogers and Little Mix fangirling going on over there. You’ll also be able to find updates on this fic on there.


	3. The Vanishing Glass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I’m a terrible person for the delay in posting, but I’ve spent the last two weeks revising for two really important exams I had on Wednesday and that had to take priority. I’ve been back at college for 4 weeks and I’m already so far behind, it’s not even funny. The comments people have left have been so lovely though, so it got me through the stress! The response so far to this story has been amazing (1000 hits!) so thank you all very much for that :)  
> P.S I’ve realised at this point in the book, Hagrid is on the run but like with McGonagall, I’m still including him because I want to and once again, I’ve cut some of the longer sections down so that copyright issues should hopefully be avoided.

**“Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all…..Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bobble hats – but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby,”**

Dudley had never felt more embarrassed in all his life, while the Weasleys, Marauders and Harry were wheezing at the image now in their head; Hermione was trying to look serious, but the slight twitch of her lips was giving her amusement away.

**“and now the photographs showed a large, blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a roundabout at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.”**

Sirius was glaring menacingly towards Petunia, a possessive arm around Harry, reminding himself that he would be able to plaster a house in as many pictures of Harry as he could find once they’d finished these books: whether Harry would agree to that was irrelevant. Professor McGonagall was glaring at Dumbledore, annoyed at him for leaving Harry there all those years ago despite her protestations, and furious at herself for letting him.

The general population of Hogwarts, who were unaware of who Harry currently lived with were hoping this meant he had managed to escape his awful relatives - the Dursleys had failed to impress anyone in the Great Hall, at least not yet. Umbridge had a feeling she might approve of how these muggles treated the liar. 

**“Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.**

**‘Up! Get up! Now!’ ”**

Snape winced at that, empathising with Potter for the first and last time. He had all too much experience with the horse screeching at him and Lily in that playground.

**“Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**‘Up!’ she screeched. Harry heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker. He rolled on to his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it. He had a funny feeling he’d had the same dream before.”**

“MY MOTORBIKE- YOU REMEMBER IT?!” Sirius shouted happily. Remus wincing and covering his sensitive ears, punched him in the arm. Ignoring him, Sirius babbled on nonsensically about how he and Harry could go on a huge adventure on the motorbike, not realising the darker implication behind the fact that if Harry could remember that, then most likely he would have memories of the events that led up to said motorbike ride. Fred and George were nearly salivating at the thought of flying on the bike and were quickly subjected to a resounding, “No!” from their mother, who, it seemed, had known exactly what they were planning on asking Sirius. 

**“His aunt was back outside the door.**

**‘Are you up yet?’ she demanded.**

**‘Nearly,’ said Harry.**

**‘Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don’t you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy’s birthday.’ Harry groaned.”**

“They made you cook?” Hermione hissed at Harry, “You wouldn’t have even been eleven, you shouldn’t be at the stove alone at that age!”. Harry flushed red, the last thing he needed was for the wizarding world to realise he was treated like a slave at home. Merlin, he didn’t want to think of what someone like Malfoy would say about that. He’d clearly been foolish in hoping that the book would skip straight to Hogwarts - he went white suddenly. Sirius looked at Harry in concern but Harry couldn’t make eye contact. Did Sirius know he was a Parseltongue? If this chapter was about what he thought it was, how would Sirius react to that? After all, Harry knew how much he hated his family and Slytherins and would hate Parseltongues by default, surely. The twins, snickering loudly at just the first of Dudley's unfortunate nicknames, distracted most people from Hermione's angry rant.

**“ ‘What did you say?’ his aunt snapped through the door.**

**‘Nothing, nothing ...’**

**Dudley’s birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders,”**

“Ooh, ickle Ronniekins will never want to have a sleepover at yours, Harry, although I didn’t notice any spiders myself in your room, there were some in that cupboard under the stairs though.” Fred remarked. Harry couldn’t bring himself to even fake a smile, something the twins noticed, sharing a concerned glance. 

**“because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.”**

Silence.

Absolute silence defended the hall. And then a squeak from Petunia. She’d never expected the freaks to find out about that. At least, not when she was surrounded by hundreds of them. 

The Weasleys were speechless. They’d known Harry was neglected, for Merlin’s sake, he came to them half starved most summers, but to be kept in a cupboard! Molly didn’t like to cry too often but angry tears had made their way to eyes, threatening to spill over at the thought of what sweet Harry had been forced through, by his family no less. Arthur was struggling to keep his fury contained, those blasted Dursleys deserved much worse than him destroying their living room. If only he’d known. And that was the thought going through many of the adults’ minds - if only they’d known. They could have done something, anything. 

Snape was completely jarred. Arrogant Potter, the carbon copy of his father, kept in a cupboard? Even his father hadn’t gone that far. And this was Lily’s son. He knew Petunia had hated her sister, but he hadn’t thought her capable of that. 

Dumbledore felt shaken. Yes, he knew Harry wasn’t happy at his relatives but he truly hadn’t realised the extent of the neglect. It felt all too reminiscent of Ariana having to be locked away; it dawned on him how lucky they were that Harry’s magic hadn’t turned in on itself. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to argue so much when Sirius inevitably demanded Harry never return there, despite the safety of the blood wards. 

Sirius and Remus found themselves too upset to find that anger yet, they knew it would come later when they didn’t have Harry sat between them, but for now, all they could do was feel horrendous for abandoning him to those people, and not giving the childhood he deserved once James and Lily were no longer there to provide it for him. They’d let the three most important people in their lives, aside from each other down. Irredeemably so, in their eyes. Harry felt too ashamed to even comfort them. He really, really, really hadn’t wanted anyone to ever find that out. 

Fudge looked positively alarmed at the thought of the boy-who-lived being raised in a cupboard. He may thoroughly dislike the boy for all the trouble he was causing but still, even he wouldn’t be so cruel. Umbridge, on the other hand, looked like she was about two seconds away from going to shake Petunia’s hand, decidedly the only person in the room not trying to kill her with their eyes. Even Dudley, who had never given the cupboard another thought once his cousin had moved out, was beginning to understand how wrong it was of his parents to do that. 

A number of students who had thought of Potter as nothing but a celebrity, intent on doing dangerous things to show off, were utterly shocked at the undoubtedly unhero-esque upbringing he’d had. Malfoy smirked at the information just revealed - it wasn’t just the Weasel he could jeer at about small bedrooms anymore- but deep inside felt that perhaps when it came to it, he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to taunt Potter about something like that. 

Professor Sprout continued reading to silence the scattered conversations around the hall, she realised Harry wouldn’t want people talking about it. 

**“When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley’s birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had got the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.”**

Professor Burbage, who had gone to school with Mr Weasley, knew to immediately head off any questions about the various presents mentioned by promising to explain what they all were whenever they had a break from reading. 

**“Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – unless of course it involved punching somebody.”**

The bluntness of the remark about Dudley had earned Harry several snickers, which turned quickly into dark looks when the rest of the sentence was read. No one had to guess twice about who that ‘somebody’ meant. 

**“Dudley’s favourite punch-bag was Harry,”**

“I’ll kill him, I’ll kill the 3 of them, and no one can stop me,” Sirius snarled. Dudley had the grace to look ashamed and plenty terrified under the heat of his cousin’s godfather’s glower. 

The Hogwarts staff were very concerned about what Harry had suffered before he had joined them, it wasn’t just neglect anymore, that was apparent. Madam Pomfrey seemed to be about 5 seconds away from swooping down on Harry and finally making good on her promise to give him a permanent bed in the hospital wing. Just like his father, she mused, realising she really should have seen this coming the first time he showed up there in his first year. 

**“but he couldn’t often catch him. Harry didn’t look it, but he was very fast. Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.”**

Remus shook his head, somewhat amused, “At least you take it better than James. He was just as small and skinny as you until fifth year when he finally grew, and boy, did he let the whole school know. Perhaps it explains why you’re both so good at Quidditch.” He smiled gently at Harry, knowing that while he had still been upset about the way his father had acted in Snape’s memory, he still loved to be told the small details about his parents, especially things he had in common with them.

**“He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley’s and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair and bright-green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning.”**

Those who thought of Harry as an attention seeker, such as Umbridge and Fudge, and even Percy Weasley to an extent, felt vindicated at this knowledge. His friends, however, gaped openly at him. He  _ hated _ his scar! He blushed under their stares, quickly defending himself, “That was before I knew what it was!I just thought it was cool, and Aunt Petunia hated it so that automatically made it something that I should like. I hate more than anything now that I know why I have it, and everyone stares at it,” he finished pointedly. And no one could argue with that logic. Harry was simply relieved that in the surprise of his liking of his scar, the comment on his broken glasses because of Dudley punching him had flown under the radar, however, the glare Ginny was directing the Dursley’s way let him know that someone had known. He actually felt bad for Dudley, Ginny had thoroughly proven she was a force to be reckoned in during the D.A. lessons. 

**“He had had it as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had got it.**

**‘In the car crash when your parents died,’ she had said. ‘And don’t ask questions.’ ”**

“A CAR CRASH! A CAR CRASH KILL JAMES AND LILY POTTER?! HOW DARE THEY?!” No one had heard calm, composed Professor Lupin shout like that before (with the exception of Sirius, of course, but he seemed to make a point of being an exception). More than one student was very relieved they had never gotten onto his bad side while he’d been teaching. He was terrifying. Petunia seemed to agree as she was doing her utmost best to make herself the size of a needle. Really, it had been kind of her to tell the boy it was a car crash, much nicer than saying they’d been murdered by some evil freak. Still, it was clear no one else would agree with her on that so she’d have to settle for trying to get her and Dudley out of this place still alive. Lupin wasn't the only furious person either. McGonagall’s eyes were flashing furiously, Hagrid was feeling his original anger resurfacing, Sirius had actually transformed himself into Padfoot, to allow him some freedom from the emotions he was feeling- he’d seen their dead bodies on the floor, how dare she pretend they’d died any other way!- and receiving comfort from Harry in the form of head rubs and even temperate Flitwick looked incensed at the injustice of calling his best student’s death an accident. 

**“Don’t ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.”**

Professor Sprout paused, looking curiously over the book at Harry: was that why he just struggled on rather than asking for clarification when confused in lessons? It would explain a lot, and clearly the teachers would need a meeting to discuss this after. Several teachers were sharing this train of thought. 

**“Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**‘Comb your hair!’ he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.”**

“See, Mrs Weasley,” Harry grinned at her, “it’s not that I don’t comb it, it’s just that it really has always been messy.” Sirius, still in animagus form (head rubs really were enjoyable) gave a doggish smirk at that, he was ninety-nine percent sure James had said pretty much that exact sentence to his own mother before. 

**“Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large, pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes and thick, blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.”**

“That is a truly beautiful description, young Harry, have you ever considered becoming a poet. Perhaps you could write a nice sonnet about You-Know-Who. Surely he’d have to stop trying to do you in after that.” George didn’t bother hiding his grin, even as his mother scolded him, because Harry couldn’t stop laughing, and that made any Molly Weasley rant worth it. It was his duty to keep the boy he thought of like another younger brother smiling, especially when he knew depressing and upsetting things would soon be changing his mood. 

**“Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel – Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.”**

The whole hall burst out laughing at that. For once Harry didn’t mind the attention, he thought he could be rather funny sometimes too. And it was extremely accurate too. Dudley managed to actually look the size of 3 people, instead of 4, shrinking in on himself in embarrassment. The same feelings he’d felt near that debe- demet- demon thingy from last summer crawled their way to the front of his mind. 

**“Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn’t much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**‘Thirty-six,’ he said, looking up at his mother and father. ‘That’s two less than last year.’ ”**

Malfoy’s sneer of, “What a greedy, spoilt child.” was met with severe disbelief that he apparently did not see the complete irony of him being the one to say that. 

**“ ‘Darling, you haven’t counted Auntie Marge’s present, see, it’s here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy.’ ”**

Molly was doing all she could to not walk over to Petunia and offer her some parenting advice. 

**“ ‘All right, thirty-seven then,’ said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.”**

“You mean he’s actually done that?” the twins asked, a mixture of disgusted and awed at Dudley’s gall to do that. They were already wincing at the mere thought of what would happen to them if they ever did that. They sort of wanted to find out...

**“Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too…….Finally he said slowly, ‘So I’ll have thirty ... thirty ...”**

**‘Thirty-nine, sweetums,’ said Aunt Petunia.”**

The nickname earned more sniggers but most people were more concerned at the utter incompetence of the boy. How on earth had Harry been raised in the same house and yet managed to come out even semi- decent?

**“ ‘Oh.’ Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. All right then.’**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

**‘Little tyke wants his money’s worth, just like his father. Atta boy, Dudley!’ He ruffled Dudley’s hair.”**

It was Arthur’s turn to look truly disgusted that this failure of an uncle was encouraging the behaviour of Harry’s horribly spoilt cousin. 

**“At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it……..came back from the telephone, looking both angry and worried.”**

Some people looked up in excitement, they knew enough about Harry’s aunt that if she was reacting negatively to something, they were likely going to enjoy hearing about it. 

**“ ‘Bad news, Vernon,’ she said. ‘Mrs Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take him.’ She jerked her head in Harry’s direction.**

**Dudley’s mouth fell open in horror but Harry’s heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley’s birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she’d ever owned.”**

Harry felt a bit bad for thinking that, now knowing the truth about Mrs Figg. The cabbage smell truly had been bad though. Hermione could only half- heartedly scold him for being glad the poor woman had broken her leg, she was too angry at the Dursleys for always leaving her best friend behind, and stripping him of any pleasant childhood, even before he’d had to grow up too quickly due to events at Hogwarts. 

**“ ‘Now what?’ said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he’d planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn’t easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbies, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty again.**

**‘We could phone Marge,’ Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**‘Don’t be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.’ ”**

“Wait, Marge… is that the one you..?” Ron asked Harry, a huge smile on his face. Harry nodded affirmatively, also smiling while everyone else looked on confused. “Merlin, Harry, just as well they didn’t leave you alone with her then!” With that Ron burst into laughter, just imagining all the different things that might have happened. 

Sirius on the other hand, was stewing. He remembered meeting that oaf of a woman, the last time Lily had ever seen Petunia and the fact that she of all people had been involved in Harry’s childhood while he’d been locked away didn’t settle well with him. He was brought out of his brooding by the sound of Harry’s laugh. It was completely unique to him and reminded him that he was there now, and had years to be involved with his godson’s life now. He would make up for those twelve years of absence. 

**“The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn’t there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn’t understand them, like a slug.”**

Snape felt an unpleasant itch. He knew that sentence could very well apply to how he spoke about Potter but he didn’t want to have anything in common with Petunia. 

Bill and Charlie, who really hadn’t known anything about Harry’s relatives before this, were overwhelmingly glad that their family had taken him in. They knew he was a good lad from the short amount of time they’d spent with him, and as brave as they came. They just couldn’t believe that the boy who was constantly so polite while in their home, but could still keep up with Fred and George when he wanted to, had been raised by such a horrible family. 

Once more, those who had always thought Harry was so spoilt growing up, well aware of his fame, were shocked at the truth of  _ The _ Harry Potter’s childhood. Madam Bones was growing increasingly concerned at the things she was hearing, and McGonagall was spending more and more time holding herself back from hexing Dumbledore right where he sat for ever leaving the boy at that blasted place. 

**“ ‘What about what’s-her-name, your friend – Yvonne?’...........‘And come back and find the house in ruins?’ she snarled.**

**‘I won’t blow up the house,’ said Harry, but they weren’t listening.”**

“Nah, houses are too boring to blow up, blowing up aunts is where it’s at.” Hermione dryly spoke with a straight face, causing Harry and Ron to pause and simply stare at her in shock before erupting into hysterical laughter - the stress of the tough afternoon was catching up to them and turning them slightly giddy. The rest of the hall was beginning to feel really left out, not understanding what they were laughing about; unfortunately for them, that feeling was only going to increase.

**“ ‘I suppose we could take him to the zoo,’ said Aunt Petunia slowly, ‘... and leave him in the car ...’**

**‘That car’s new, he’s not sitting in it alone ...’ ”**

The muggleborns, who all knew the terrible dangers of leaving a child alone in a car in summer, were appalled that the thought had even crossed their minds. While they looked at Petunia in abhorrence, the wizard-raised students and adults were confused at the level of anger this had drawn out. They didn’t like Harry being left behind but surely a car was no worse than a house? Hermione was seething and it was taking all of Harry’s efforts to keep her from screaming at Petunia. He didn’t particularly want Sirius losing it at Petunia over something that hadn’t actually happened. 

**“Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn’t really crying, it had been years since he’d really cried, but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.”**

Dudley was actually considering crawling under the table just to escape the stares now. Sirius, who had felt calm enough to transform back into a human, slung his arm around Harry’s shoulders and whispered quietly into his ear, “And what would she do to you, if you were the one crying?”

Harry’s lack of an answer told him everything. It certainly explained the way he’d been so determined not to cry after the Third Task in the Tournament last year. How he wished Harry would just let it all go, even just once, though he knew it would be very hypocritical for him to lecture anyone else about holding their emotions in. 

**“ ‘Dinky Duddydums, don’t cry, Mummy won’t let him spoil your special day!’ she cried, flinging her arms around him.”**

“Dinky Duddydums! Merlin Harry, I actually think you were the lucky one in that house!” Fred gasped through his mirth.

“Of course, Dudders, you won’t mind if we call you that too, will you? You know, blokes who share their toffees with each other need nicknames,” George continued.

Dudley’s face, that had been red with humiliation, turned a sickly grey pallor at the reminder of two years ago. 

**“ ‘I ... don’t ... want ... him ... t-t-to come!’ Dudley yelled between huge pretend sobs. ‘He always sp-spoils everything!’ He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother’s arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang – ‘Oh, Good Lord, they’re here!’ said Aunt Petunia frantically – and a moment later, Dudley’s best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people’s arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them.”**

Harry’s dour murmur of “Why’s it always the rats?” had a visible effect on the four people closest to him, much to the confusion of the others. The Weasleys still wondered what had happened to Scabbers and why Ron had been so glad to be rid of him. 

**“Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn’t believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys’ car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn’t been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they’d left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**‘I’m warning you,’ he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry’s, ‘I’m warning you now, boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you’ll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.’ ”**

“And I’m warning that-” many unmentionable words followed, describing exactly what Sirius thought of Vernon, leading to several displeased shouts of “MR. BLACK!” and “SIRIUS BLACK!”. He didn’t listen, continuing on with his triade, “-man, he goes near my godson again and I'll shove every lump of his fat body into that cupboard and lock him in for the rest of his sorry life!” The older students who had hastily covered the ears of innocent first and second years felt it safe to release them now. 

**“ ‘I’m not going to do anything,’ said Harry, ‘honestly ...’**

**But Uncle Vernon didn’t believe him. No one ever did.”**

McGonagall felt a stabbing guilt, remembering the end of Potter’s first year, when he had tried to warn her about the Philosopher's stone and she hadn’t believed him. Next thing she knew, he was in the hospital wing, an inch away from death. She would always blame herself for that and regret her actions. She knew James would have been so disappointed with her.

Umbridge was smiling smugly. Maybe the boy would finally start getting exposed as a liar, he really had been getting far too much sympathy so far. 

**“The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn’t make them happen…….Next morning, however, he had got up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.”**

Sirius had never been more proud of Harry in his life (except maybe the time when Harry had been a baby and had chosen to go to Padfoot instead of Prongs - James hadn’t talked to Sirius for a week). 

**“He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn’t explain how it had grown back so quickly.”**

Sirius’ humorous mood quickly disintegrated and he grumbled threateningly in Petunia’s direction. Ginny had picked up on the possessive pronoun used when Harry was describing the cupboard under the stairs and thought that perhaps that was actually the saddest thing they’d read so far. 

**“Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley’s (brown with orange bobbles).”**

Lavender actually gagged at the description, Parvati patting her arm consolingly. To be fair though, she wasn’t the only one. 

**“The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a glove puppet….. On the other hand, he’d got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley’s gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry’s surprise as anyone else’s, there he was sitting on the chimney.”**

Everyone stared at Harry in disbelief, his friends and family included:  _ he’d apparated as a kid?  _

The teachers had heard of many remarkable instances of accidental magic, but this was unheard of! How frightened must he have been for his magic to react so powerfully, especially when he was unaware of it? Fudge was quite concerned that the boy he had chosen to publicly disparage so much was even more impressive, magic-wise than he’d realised. What if Potter’s magic suddenly perceived him, Fudge, to be a danger? Harry, for his part, was unsure why people looked so awed by that, as far as he knew, that was just the usual accidental magic. 

**“The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry’s headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings…..Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. But today, nothing was going to go wrong.”**

Ron looked at Harry in deep disappointment.

“Shut up, Ron. I know.”

**“It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn’t school, his cupboard or Mrs Figg’s cabbage-smelling living-room. While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects.**

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that, who is it he likes to complain about?” Luna asked in her dreamy voice. Harry stared at her, unable to tell if she had genuinely not heard who his uncle was complaining about or if Luna Lovegood was making a joke. He found himself unable to give any answer except a friendly smile. 

**“This morning, it was motorbikes.**

**‘... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums,’ he said, as a motorbike overtook them.**

**‘I had a dream about a motorbike,’ said Harry, remembering suddenly. ‘It was flying.’ ”**

There were several groans that echoed around the Great Hall at that moment. 

“Really, Harry, where was your brain?” Ginny exasperatedly asked him. 

“Hey!” he pouted at her in mock hurt, “I was ten alright, and had had a cool dream. I can’t be held accountable for my actions.”

**“Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beetroot with a moustache, ‘MOTORBIKES DON’T FLY!’**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**‘I know they don’t,’ said Harry. ‘It was only a dream.’**

**But he wished he hadn’t said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn’t, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.”**

Molly couldn’t hide her relief as Hermione informed the too eager twins that cartoons were not in fact dangerous and could not be used as a prank. 

**“It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice lolly.”**

“It really was a nice lolly,” Harry promised Sirius who was looking angry. “Oh don’t you worry Pup, I’m going to buy you chocolate ice creams everyday for the rest of your life and you’ll enjoy them even more.” Harry looked quite alarmed at the prospect and the utter sincerity with which his godfather was promising it, so Remus leant over and whispered to Harry that he’d talk Sirius down, but maybe it would be best to indulge him for a couple of days, at least.

**“It wasn’t bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head and looking remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn’t blond.”**

The whole hall burst into laughter, even McGonagall managing a smirk, Snape a faint, almost unnoticeable twitching of the lips, only Umbridge remaining stony faced- how rude of the boy!

**“Harry had the best morning he’d had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys…...Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all too good to last.”**

“The story of my life,” Harry deadpanned. Students glanced at each other, surely his life wasn’t all bad? 

**“After lunch they went to the reptile house.”**

Harry’s heartbeat began to pick up again. Did Umbridge know he was a Parseltongue? He dreaded to think how she would twist that. 

**“It was cool and dark in here, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons…….‘Make it move,’ he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn’t budge.**

**‘Do it again,’ Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.”**

“Bet it’s faking sleep. It’s what I do when people knock on my door,” Bill casually remarked but shrinking back against the fierce glare sent his way by Molly. Yup, bad thing for him to admit. 

**“ ‘This is boring,’ Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it had died of boredom**

**itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up – at least he got to**

**visit the rest of the house.”**

“Harry, do you not realise how concerning that is, comparing yourself to an animal literally trapped in a cage at a zoo?” Hermione asked in concern. “Surely someone at your primary would have listened to you, if you told them.”

“It already said it, Hermione. No one ever believed me. I told one of my teachers once that my bedroom was a cupboard when we were asked to describe it and when she spoke to the Dursleys, they just told her I liked to hide in there, it was the trauma of having no parents or something and that they’d tried everything they could to help me. She believed them, started treating me like I’d escaped a mental asylum, I got locked in the cupboard for two weeks as punishment, obviously I was never going to bother mentioning it again. There was no point.” Harry replied calmly. He knew it was wrong that he should ever have been made to feel similar to a snake in a zoo, but he could feel his anger rising that he was being made to explain why he’d never told anyone, like it was his fault! A warning glance from Ron, and Hermione knew to shut up. 

**“The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry’s. It winked.”**

Charlie, not actually being aware of Harry’s certain snake capabilities, was not convinced he’d heard right. “A snake...winked at you? As in, looked you specifically in the eye and then decided to wink at you?” Harry just nodded at him, his stomach churning. He knew people still thought it weird and darkk that he was a Parselmouth and he wasn’t looking forward to all that being rehashed, along with even more people learning of his talent. He realised Narcissa Malfoy was here, and wondered if Draco had ever told his parents what Harry was, and whether indeed Voldemort himself actually knew. At least Narcissa wouldn’t be able to tell him. 

**“Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren’t. He looked back at the snake and**

**winked, too. The snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: ‘I get that all the time.’**

**‘I know,’ Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn’t sure the snake could hear him. ‘It must be really annoying.’**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**‘Where do you come from, anyway?’ Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**‘Was it nice there?’**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. ‘Oh, I see – so you’ve never been to Brazil?’ ”**

The fourth years and above were in gales of laughter at this point, listening to Harry have a casual conversation with a snake and not even thinking twice about how odd that was, especially before he even knew of the existence of magic. They remembered the whole debacle three years ago and were mostly used to it now. However, some of the younger students looked at Harry fearfully, knowing only of Parselmouth’s evil reputation, their response fuelled on by Umbridge’s triumphant “AHA!”. Oh, who would believe the foul boy now, once she told them this news (she had conveniently forgotten she had no chance of ever getting Black’s permission to share said information). It was Ginny and Neville, both bolder from their experience in the D.A. who dealt with those students, warning them sternly that the ability to speak Parseltongue was not inherently evil in itself. Harry, oblivious to what was going on around him, found himself wondering if the snake ever had made it to Brazil when he suddenly remembered why he’d been dreading this chapter at the start of it. Trepidation in his heart, he turned to face Sirius. Would he still want Harry, knowing that Harry had a trait famous of Slytherin, the house of his hated family? Sirius saw that panic and simply pulled him into a tight hug. He was in fact, shaken by the revelation, though not entirely surprised and reckoned he wouldn’t take too long to get over it. Remus met Sirius’ gaze and smiled at him, proud of his reaction and putting Harry first. Ron and Hermione looked at each other, relief obvious in both of them, they had been able to tell Harry had been worrying about that. 

**“As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. ‘DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT IT’S DOING!’**

**Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.**

**‘Out of the way, you,’ he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.”**

Remus had to physically block Madam Pomfrey from seizing Harry to examine every inch of him, while Harry indignantly exclaimed that this had happened years ago and he was fine! She huffed at him, relented but still planted herself firmly in the middle of the Gryffindor table so she could reach him next time. 

**“What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened – one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor’s tank had vanished.”**

When they had heard the chapter name, they had expected maybe a glass that you would drink out of to be vanished, not a huge pane of it! The adults really were in astonishment at the power Harry possessed. Remus understood now how his Cub had been so capable at the Patronus charm- he was very proud. 

**“The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor – people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, ‘Brazil, here I come ... Thanksss, amigo.’**

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**“ ‘But the glass,’ he kept saying, ‘where did the glass go?’ ”**

“I do wonder what they chalked it up to in the end,” Mr Weasley mused. 

**“The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong sweet tea while he apologised over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber.”**

To be fair to Dudley and his friend, most students felt they would probably react in much the same way, whether they had their wands or not. 

**“As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn’t done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon’s car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, ‘Harry was talking to it, weren’t you, Harry?’ ”**

All sympathy for the boy vanished as fast as the glass had. 

**“Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, ‘Go – cupboard – stay – no meals,’ before he collapsed into a chair and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a**

**large brandy.”**

The erupted in absolute outrage once more. Madam Pomfrey was apoplectic with rage, Mrs Weasley was quivering with fury, and Sirius was beside himself. All of Harry’s friends were mutinous- they had starved him! Starved him! Harry’s skinny (scrawny) frame that they had always poked fun at suddenly made a lot more sense and they felt awful for it. Remus was planning in his head all the meals he would be making and forcing Harry to eat. Perhaps Sirius’ idea of a chocolate ice cream a day was not such a bad idea after all. Madam Bones was certain that even if Sirius Black’s trial did not prove his innocence (they didn’t have any conclusive proof yet, so she couldn’t be entirely sure), Harry Potter would not be returning to that house and that family, and she would be interrogating Albus Dumbledore, regarding his decision to place him there. 

**“Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn’t know what time it was and he couldn’t be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn’t risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.”**

The Gryffindor Fifth Year boys finally understood why Harry was so good at sneaking bother around and out of their dorm, without any of them noticing. He’d had lots of practice with bigger threats than them. 

**“He’d lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he’d been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn’t remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.”**

People stared at Harry in horror, he actually remembered that? Mrs Weasley looked near tears, Ginny looked devastated for him, Dumbledore looked grave, and Hagrid was clutching the tablecloth tightly in his hands. Percy had gone deathly pale, having never realised the boy he had kept an eye on for those three years would have a memory of that. And why would he now lie about the very same person who caused that coming back? But those kinds of thoughts would mean admitting he was wrong and he didn’t feel Gryffindor enough to be doing that anytime soon. 

In fact, only Remus, Hermione and Ron knew that Harry actually remembered much worse than that, even if they didn’t know what exactly it was. Not one of them wanted to know and it was terrible to think that it was too likely that soon enough they would. Perhaps they’d have to find a way to sedate Sirius for that moment. 

**“This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn’t imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn’t remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.”**

“I didn’t even know their names until I got my Hogwarts letter,” Harry said quietly to the table. Sirius felt like he was in physical pain hearing that and it only got worse….

**“When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.”**

Remus and Sirius didn’t think they would ever get over the regret and pain at the fact that neither of them had done that, given Harry a happy childhood and had instead left him to feel that unbearable loneliness the two of them knew only too well. Ron cut their wallowings off before they could voice any of it to Harry (who knew exactly what they were thinking anyway and wanted them to know that he was just glad they were here now, especially after the afternoon he’d had), saying fiercely to him, “That’s not true, mate. Not anymore. We’re your family. Me, Hermione, Sirius, Professor Lupin, and all the Weasleys. We’ll always be your family.” In an uncharacteristically emotional moment for the two of them, they hugged across the table, Harry’s face saying all the things he couldn’t put into words past the lump in his throat. Ron was right, whatever people thought of him, whether they ever believed him or not, he’d have this, his family. His chosen family. 

**“Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too…..The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.”**

Sirius was confused. The whole reason Albus had not allowed Harry to go straight to him last summer was because of the blood wards but if random strangers had met him out and about, what would have stopped a Death Eater. The blood wards were useless if he could still be easily found outside it’s perimeter. He thanked his lucky stars Harry had even survived long enough for him to meet him again. He considered bringing this up to Dumbledore now, but decided ultimately he would just use it as his argument for not allowing Harry to stay in that accursed place, if the man did try to fight it. 

**“At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley’s gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley’s gang.”**

Dudley was sent more nasty scowls, and Harry was sent more sympathetic looks -which he steadfastly ignored. But the chapter was over and Harry was just relieved that they’d made it through with few issues. Professor Sprout handed the book to Professor Flitwick, who announced in his squeaky voice that the next chapter was called:

**“The Letters from No One”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can be found on Tumblr @Lottiebillions - there’s lots of Harry Potter and some Steve Rogers and Little Mix fangirling going on over there. You’ll also be able to find updates on this fic on there.


	4. The Letters from No One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry about the delay in posting. School and exams and jobs have made life pretty hectic these last couple of weeks and I didn’t have the time or energy to write. I did send off my University applications this week which is exciting, but now I’ve got interviews to prepare for, so wish me luck! I am going to aim for an update at least once a fortnight (it may end up being once every 3 weeks for a while), but I’m not giving a specific day just to reduce pressure on myself.

**“The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started”**

“And just how long was that?” Hermione demanded. She was distressed that she, Hermione ‘can-always-work-it-out’ Granger had never realised that her best friend at been kept in a cupboard for 10 years, neglected even more than they’d thought for their entire childhood, all while she and Ron had been surrounded by loving family, and yet out of the three of them, he still seemed to have the most capacity for love. 

“About 5 weeks,” Harry muttered reluctantly, to the shock of the entire hall. Harry had been locked in a tiny cupboard for that long? Umbridge thought that his relatives really did have the right way of dealing with the boy, if only she was able to do that with him.

“But it’s not like I was in there all day, I was at school most the day and when I was asleep obviously it didn’t matter,” he finished hurriedly, trying to placate not just Hermione, but his snarling godfather and ex-professor, and a increasingly red Mrs. Weasley. Dumbledore was determinedly looking anywhere but Professor McGonagall. 

**“and Dudley had already broken his new cine-camera, crashed his remote-control aeroplane and, first time on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.”**

Dudley had the grace to look ashamed of himself once again, many of the poorer students glaring at him at his utter lack of care for his possessions. 

**“Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley’s gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.”**

“Makes you wonder how Malfoy’s the gang leader with that logic, he’s stealing poor Goyle’s spotlight.” Ron snorted. He was met with a gormless look from Goyle and an icy glare from Malfoy, who’s mother was the only reason he did not retort. He could not be seen resorting to petty fights in front of her. 

**“The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley’s favourite sport: Harry-hunting.”**

“For your sake, Dudley Dursley, you’d best hope that that sport is simply a friendly game of hide and seek,” Sirius said in a light tone, the threatening undercurrent more than clear though. Harry glanced at his cousin- either it was suddenly very hot in the hall, or Dudley was finally understanding that his behaviour had consequences. He seemed to be sweating an awful amount. 

**“This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn’t be with Dudley. Dudley had a place at Uncle Vernon’s old school, Smeltings.”**

“What’s that like,” Bill inquired suddenly, looking very intrigued, “thinking you’re going to a completely different school with other friends and then finding out about Hogwarts?” 

Colin Creevey piped up, excited to be speaking to someone as cool looking as Bill Weasley, “It was weird! I thought I was going to the local comprehensive with all my friends from primary and I was really looking forward to that and then my Hogwarts letter came and I had to make up an excuse to them about why I was suddenly going to a completely different school even though I’d never mentioned it before. It’s great going here but you do wonder what all your other friends from back home are doing and what it would be like going to school with them instead.” He had a solemn face by the end, most muggleborns nodding along with him. It was hard leaving not just family, but friends behind and by the end of their first year, they all found it practically impossible to relate to those friends anymore. 

**“Piers Polkiss was going there, too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local comprehensive. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

**‘They stuff people’s heads down the toilet first day at Stonewall,’ he told Harry. ‘Want to come upstairs and practise?’**

**‘No thanks,’ said Harry. ‘The poor toilet’s never had anything as horrible as your head down it – it might be sick.’ ”**

The hall burst into laughter at that, many of them not realising Harry could have such a sense of humour. The Weasley twins were looking disgustedly at Harry, not impressed that he did not banter with them like that often enough. Sirius was beaming with pride at the only Marauder heir. 

**“Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he’d said. One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform…...That evening, Dudley paraded around the living-room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats called boaters.”**

Harry chortled at the memory of that outfit. It had been a while since he’d thought about it or seen it, and it truly was the most hideous thing he’d ever seen, and that included Voldemort’s face. When he said as much, he got a range of reactions. Several people chuckled uncertainly, not sure whether it was appropriate to laugh at that while Umbridge shrieked that ‘Potter was a liar who couldn’t possibly know what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named looked like because he was dead!’. Hermione scolded Harry for joking about something like that, especially after what had happened that afternoon. Ron and the twins were hiding their smirks while also looking somewhat horrified at the thought of what the uniform must look like if Harry considered Voldemort better looking. Many students, girls and boys alike, were also looking repulsed at the description of the uniform and thanking Merlin that they did not have to wear anything like that. Ginny didn’t find it amusing. She had found out all too well what Tom Riddle looked like. A nudge from Remus, who had helped Ginny in her second year recover from her trauma, made Harry understand this and he apologised quietly across the table to her. She grimaced back at him and accepted the comfort Charlie offered her. Harry felt bad for once again forgetting that he wasn’t the only one of the kids who had personal experience with Voldemort, and made a promise to himself that he wouldn't forget how Ginny might feel about some of his jokes before he made them next time. 

**“They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren’t looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.”**

Professor McGonagall looked like the first person to suggest they do that at Hogwarts would be in detention until the day they died. 

**“As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn’t believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn’t trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.”**

More laughter rang through the Great Hall at that. They did not blame Harry in the slightest for having that reaction. Imagining the fat, piggy boy sat at the end of the Gryffindor table in the abominable clothes described was absolutely hilarious. 

**“There was a horrible smell in the kitchen next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water.**

**‘What’s this?’ he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.”**

Several teachers' own lips tightened in response to that, angry at the barrier to learning Harry had been raised with. 

**“ ‘Your new school uniform,’ she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I didn’t realise it had to be so wet.’ ”**

¾ of the hall had burst into rapturous laughter, enjoying this side of Harry they’d never seen before. Fred and George were joined by Sirius in nearly crying tears of mirth. Hermione and Ginny, along with Tonks (although she appreciated the comment too) were exasperated at Harry’s complete lack of self-preservation, knowing his aunt would not appreciate that comment. Harry grinned abashedly at them but really he was quite proud of his eleven year old self for it. 

**“ ‘Don’t be stupid,’ snapped Aunt Petunia. ‘I’m dyeing some of Dudley’s old things grey for you. It’ll look just like everyone else’s when I’ve finished.’ ”**

Aunt Petunia was sent many incredulous looks. 

**“Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High – like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably…..They heard the click of the letter-box and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**‘Get the post, Dudley,’ said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

“I’m sorry, Filius, did I hear you correctly? That buffoon actually made his son do something instead of Harry?” McGonagall interrupted disbelievingly. Many in the room shared her sentiments. 

“Just wait two seconds, Minerva, you’ll see,” Professor Flitwick replied. 

**“ ‘Make Harry get it.’**

**‘Get the post, Harry.’ ”**

“Ah, that makes more sense, yes.”

**“ ‘Make Dudley get it.’**

**‘Poke him with your Smeltings stick, Dudley.’ ”**

Sirius looked like he wished nothing more than for Vernon Dursley to be in the Great Hall right then so he could go to prison with an accurate charge of murder this time. 

**Harry dodged the Smeltings stick and went to get the post.**

“That’s our seeker!” Alicia Spinnet cheered, the rest of Gryffindor joining in. 

**“Three things lay on the doormat: …...and – a letter for Harry. Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives – he didn’t belong to the library so he’d never even got rude notes asking for books back.”**

The mood was quickly dampened at the sober reminder that Harry had felt truly alone before he made it to Hogwarts. Most people struggled to understand how someone could be so excited by one simple letter, when they didn't even know what it was, and they all found it upsetting that Harry had genuinely been unable to think of a single person who would want to write to him. Of course, at that time, he hadn't known that the half of wizarding Britain had probably written to him at some time or other. That led to the question of where those letters had gone to? Dumbledore jumped in to explain this, before anyone could start accusing him of things -”All mail sent to Harry was redirected to the Ministry, in case anything sinister had been sent by any remaining Voldemort followers, perhaps seeking revenge, so if Mr. Potter wants to see anything that was sent to him by strangers, the Ministry should be able to aid him.” There, Dumbledore was happy with that. No one could glare at him for that, even if he was going to prevent anything from the magical world getting to Harry until it was time himself , the Ministry had gotten there first which meant the blame here was not on him. 

**“Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter ‘H’.”**

Cheers rang around the hall, all celebrating the momentous moment in every wizard's life that a Hogwarts letter represented. It was the observant Ginny who accusingly asked who wrote the envelopes, since they clearly knew about Harry’s living situation and had ignored it, when Harry could have been taken away from the neglectful home sooner if someone had acted on that hint. The hall went silent at that, many faces suddenly stony at the idea that someone had chosen to let him continue living there. Professor McGonagall was quick to defend the whole staff, explaining that the envelopes were self-written by a quill. No one specifically wrote them. She made a mental note to have someone bring that up at the next governor’s meeting, to see if they could change that. Ginny was right. Even if nothing could have been done for the first ten years of Harry’s life at the Dursleys, more could have been done in the last five years to get Harry out of that blasted house. 

**“ ‘Hurry up, boy!’ shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. ‘What are you doing, checking for letter-bombs?’ He chuckled at his own joke.”**

Not a single soul joined Uncle Vernon in his laughter. 

**“Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust and flipped over the postcard.**

**‘Marge’s ill,’ he informed Aunt Petunia. ‘Ate a funny whelk ...’ ”**

“How simply awful,” Fred said mournfully.

“An utter tragedy, the poor thing,” George continued gravely. 

**“ ‘Dad!’ said Dudley suddenly. ‘Dad, Harry’s got something!’ ”**

“Eurgh, he’s an even worse snitch than Malfoy!” Ron exclaimed in disgust, Malfoy sneering at him in response. Sirius was back to his animal-like growling in Dudley’s direction, while Dudley was beginning to feel slightly bad for getting something that was quite clearly much more important than he could understand taken from his cousin. 

**“Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

**‘That’s mine!’ said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**‘Who’d be writing to you?’ sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it.”**

“Hands up folks, and be honest, who ever wrote to the scrawny midget here?” Fred and George shouted, causing Harry to hide his face in embarrassment. He really did not want to know if other students had really written to him when he was a kid. There were a few honest students who awkwardly raised their hands before quickly lowering them, having realised the twins were just joking. Tonks, however, would not be embarrassed and proudly told Harry that she had written him letters before she had gone to Hogwarts, her mother having known who James and Lily were, through Sirius. Funnily enough, Harry found it more touching coming from Tonks than he did it coming from Ernie MacMillan. 

**“His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn’t stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.”**

No one in the hall would be having porridge for breakfast for the next few days.

**“ ‘P-P-Petunia!’ he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

**‘Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!’ ”**

“Now really, you are just awfully dramatic, considering you like to be so ‘normal’,” Mrs Weasley hissed scathingly down the table to Petunia, to the delight of her children.

**“They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn’t used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smeltings stick.**

**‘I want to read that letter,’ he said loudly.”**

Mr Weasley looked so genuinely appalled, it was comical. He could not believe that Harry’s uncle had allowed his son to treat him that way. Merlin knew, if any one of his children had acted that way towards him, he could make Mrs Weasley look tame in comparison. Dudley was beginning to get used to all the revolted looks being focused his way. He would be very relieved when the book reached the point at which his cousin disappeared from his life for ten months.

**“ ‘I want to read it,’ said Harry furiously, ‘as it’s mine.’**

**‘Get out, both of you,’ croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn’t move.**

**‘I WANT MY LETTER!’ he shouted.”**

“Well at least we know he’s always had a temper and been stubborn,” Fred joked. Surprisingly it was Remus who laughed at this most. He found it truly incredible just how many traits of James and Lily Harry had despite their absence. 

“That’s all from Lily,” he told them, “She had the quickest, fieriest temper and was stubborn as hell, mostly over James, but then just as quick as she flared up, she’d be over it and was back to be the sweetest, kindest soul that none of us deserved.” 

Harry smiled hearing that, it was nice to hear that he’d got something from his parents, aside from his appearance, as much as he loved that. 

Snape shuddered at hearing about Lily’s temper, the last time he’d ever seen her alive, that furious anger had been aimed full force in his direction.

**“ ‘Let me see it!’ demanded Dudley.**

**‘OUT!’ roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.”**

Outraged noises could be heard all over the room, that Harry’s uncle had roughly manhandled him so casually, did that mean it had occurred often? The implications of that were too awful for many to even think. Snape was determinedly trying to ignore all the signs that pointed to Potter’s childhood being just like his. To admit he had been wrong, and see Dumbledore’s knowing face, would be intolerable. Remus and Sirius were discussing how best to get revenge on Dursley, in true Marauder style, watched in awe by the twins (yet to realise that they were observing Moony and Padfoot in action) at the deviousness of what they were suggesting. The fact that Remus was also joining in made Harry think that perhaps he shouldn’t try and stop them, after all if calm Remus who had dealt with Snape’s taunting for a year, felt this angry over his uncle’s behaviour towards him, maybe Uncle Vernon deserved it. 

**“Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.”**

“Ahh if only you’d known us then. At least you know us now and will never have to worry about being close to the door to eavesdrop again,” George said without thinking. He understood his mistake a second too late. 

“And what, George Fabian Weasley, do you mean by that?” thundered Mrs Weasley. George went white and looked desperately to his brother for help. 

“Hah, well you know, Harry’s a wizard and- well- you know- he- they-.” Fred stuttered but everyone knew they were caught. It was just as well they’d already bought their own premises. Mrs Weasley wouldn’t be able to complain once the joke shop was open for business. 

**“ ‘Vernon,’ Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, ‘look at the address – how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don’t think they’re watching the house?’**

**‘Watching – spying – might be following us,’ muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.”**

Several people snorted at the idea of wizards watching every muggleborn house before sending the Hogwarts letter. It was absurd how highly the Dursleys thought of themselves. 

**“ ‘But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don’t want –’**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon’s shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**‘No,’ he said finally. ‘No, we’ll ignore it. If they don’t get an answer ... yes, that’s best ... we won’t do anything ...’ ”**

Harry wondered for the first what would have happened if the Dursleys had responded, declining his place at Hogwarts, rather than just ignoring the letters. Would someone have come to talk to him? Or was he being arrogant by assuming they would have done anything to make sure the Boy Who Lived went to Hogwarts?

**“ ‘But –’**

**‘I’m not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn’t we swear when we took him in we’d stamp out that dangerous nonsense?’ ”**

It was just as well magic was not possible in the hall. Sirius looked like he very much would have blasted the place to smithereens if he'd been able to use his wand, such was the force of his vexation. Those who knew the danger of trying to suppress the magic of children did not blame him in the slightest for his reaction, Dumbledore most of all. He felt aghast at what could have been done to Harry, if the Dursleys had been successful. It would have been a hundred times worse than what happened to Arianna. And it would have been his fault again. 

**“That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he’d never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

**‘Where’s my letter?’ said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. ‘Who’s writing to me?’**

**‘No one. It was addressed to you by mistake,’ said Uncle Vernon shortly. ‘I have burned it.’ ”**

People were incensed by that. Your first Hogwarts letter was a treasure you kept for life. The muggleborns were even more incensed that Harry’s uncle had gone so far to burn it- it wasn't at all legal to do that to someone else’s mail. Harry reassured those around him that he did in fact get another Hogwarts letter (this, he seemed to find particularly funny, much to the confusion of everyone else) and while he wasn’t exactly sure where it was or the condition it was in after five years, he knew he definitely had it. 

**“ ‘It was not a mistake,’ said Harry angrily. ‘It had my cupboard on it.’ ”**

“Ahh, this feels just like last summer. I can picture it perfectly, Harry’s lovely dulcet tones constantly shouting.” Fred smirked. 

“Nevermind this summer, this entire year, more like,” Ron sniggered. 

Harry glared at them. They did not talk about Harry’s mood swings. 

**“ ‘SILENCE!’ yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.”**

Ron shuddered, earning a smirk from Harry.

**“He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

**‘Er – yes, Harry – about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking ... you’re really getting a bit big for it ... we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley’s second bedroom.’ ”**

Enraged cries of “Second bedroom!” erupted all over the hall. It had been one thing for Harry to live in a cupboard, when they automatically assumed there must have only been two bedrooms, but to find out Dudley had a second bedroom incensed many people, and reaffirmed Madam Bones’ decision to refuse to allow Potter back to relatives. Even people like Malfoy and his mother felt some sort of anger over the situation, as much as they would deny. Mr Weasley had never been more proud of his twin sons than in that moment, remembering how they had blown up the Dursleys’ lounge. 

Harry was oblivious to all this, thinking instead about how that was possibly the only time his uncle had ever called him ‘Harry’ and he was honestly surprised he didn’t remember it. 

Sirius was already designing the three bedrooms he would give Harry, just to one up Dudley; even if his pup never used two of the rooms, it was the principal of the thing. 

**“ ‘Why?’ said Harry.**

**‘Don’t ask questions!’ snapped his uncle. ‘Take this stuff upstairs, now.’**

**The Dursleys’ house had four bedrooms:”**

More growls and angry mutters could be heard at this reminder that it was definitely a willing choice to shove Harry in the understair cupboard. Harry could not wait until the cupboard was forgotten about.

**“one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon’s sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn’t fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room.”**

Most people didn’t like to think of themselves as materialistic but it was depressing to think that Harry Potter probably brought everything he owned with him to Hogwarts in his trunk, while they all spent several hours decided what to bring with them and what to leave at home- they would never even imagine being physically able to bring everything. 

**“He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month old cine-camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over next door’s dog…...there was a large birdcage which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air-rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it.”**

Mr. Weasley was beginning to look too animated by what he was hearing so Professor Flitwick, knowing all too well the kind of mayhem an over- excited Weasley could produce, refused to pause for breath as he rushed to get past the muggle world - heavy descriptions. 

**“Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as**

**though they’d never been touched. From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother: ‘I don’t want him in there ... I need that room ... make him get out ...’**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he’d have given anything to be up here. Today he’d rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.”**

“I think that’s one of the things that upsets me most in what we’ve read so far. That a letter you didn’t even know the sender of or the contents of, felt more important than finally getting somewhere even remotely decent to sleep, because it was such a novelty to have something be purely for you, about you.” Ginny remarked sombrely, quietly so only those near Harry could hear.

“It’s okay, I get plenty of letters now- well, most summers at least,” Harry answered, those closest to him not missing his dig at his lingering frustration of being cut off over the summer. It was nice that Ginny cared so much though, and that she could actually tell him that, rather than blushing and running away. She was turning out to be a good friend, not just Ron’s little sister. 

**“Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He’d screamed, whacked his father with his Smeltings stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof and he still didn’t have his**

**room back.”**

The students were just as sick of throwing disgusted looks at where Dudley Dursley was sat as he was of receiving them, but they just couldn’t help themselves when something like this was read. Augusta Longbottom looked scary enough to be anyone's boggart at the thought of her grandson behaving in that fashion. In fact, most teachers and adults in the room looked scary enough in their disgust at this behaviour that most students decided they would keep any protesting against detentions or homework etc. to a minimum for a while. It was unfortunate that it was a muggle being shown in this light, as it was not helping fight the rising anti-muggle sentiments, particularly at the Slytherin table - they would all conveniently forget the many tantrums they themselves had thrown, and simply blame it on the primitive nature of muggles. 

**“Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he’d opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly…….Then he shouted, ‘There’s another one! Mr H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive –’**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.”**

“Who knew Uncle Vernon would make good practice for trolls?” Harry joked. Hermione and Ron, who had faced much worse since then, found it much easier to laugh at this now than they would have four years previously, but they were quickly cut off by Sirius’ yell of “WHAT?!”. Now, he and the Marauders had done many things in school, but they had certainly never been foolish enough to fight a troll (even if he and James and tried more than once to find one). While he knew the dangers his godson had faced at Hogwarts from his involvement in Harry’s third and fourth year, Sirius was beginning to realise that there was so much more that he didn’t know, that he had missed out on, and would be learning about for the first time with all these strangers who didn’t care even a tenth as much as he did for Harry. It was a dark thought that would have quickly sent him spiralling into depressive thoughts of his failure, if it hadn’t been for Harry, always perceptive, noticing Sirius’ mood and adding, “Of course, that troll was nothing compared to one I found at the end of my third year,” looking directly at his godfather so he knew exactly who he was suggesting that meant. Sirius’ squawk of indignation sent everyone into peals of laughter, not least Remus, who couldn’t believe how like James little Prongs could be. It was like sitting in the common room again, watching his two best friends ribbing each other back and forth. 

**“After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smeltings stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry’s letter clutched in his hand.**

**‘Go to your cupboard – I mean, your bedroom,’ he wheezed at Harry. ‘Dudley – go – just go.’**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn’t received his first letter. Surely that meant they’d try again? And this time he’d make sure they didn’t fail. He had a plan.**

Ron and Hermione groaned. It was Harry’s turn to make an indignation noise of protest.

“Sorry mate, but you know your plans never work. You plan, you get there, all hell breaks loose.”

Well, Harry realised he couldn’t exactly argue that, this afternoon was all the proof anyone needed.

**“The repaired alarm clock rang at six o’clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn’t wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.”**

“You know, that’s not a bad plan, but I think Murphy’s Law applies doubly to your life: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Hermione stated. Harry felt that was the perfect way to describe his life. That law certainly explained most of it.

**“His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall towards the front door – ‘AAAAARRRGH!’**

**Harry leapt into the air – he’d trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat – something alive!”**

Those who realised what that alive thing most likely was were in hysterics. If that wasn’t just the best revenge on the oaf, even if his plan had failed. Sirius was one who found it particularly hilarious, and McGonagall was struggling to keep her amusement hidden. 

**“Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realised that the big squashy something had been his uncle’s face…...He stayed at home and nailed up the letter-box.**

**‘See,’ he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, ‘if they can’t deliver them they’ll just give up.’**

**‘I’m not sure that’ll work, Vernon.’**

At least Aunt Petunia wasn’t completely dense was the main consensus. 

**“ ‘Oh, these people’s minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they’re not like you and me,’ said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruit cake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.”**

There were many snorts of disbelieving laughter that a man could be so arrogant and confident in what he was saying when it was so clearly wrong. Although, he was right when he said that he and Petunia were not like them, it just wasn’t quite the insult he imagined it to be. 

**“On Friday, no fewer than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn’t go through the letter-box they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs toilet.”**

“Was there somebody specifically responsible for this because I really want to shake their hand,” chortled Fred.

“I’m getting ideas for how to prevent our young ickle Harrykins from feeling like he did last summer,” George chuckled. 

**“Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed ‘Tiptoe through the Tulips’ as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

“Moody, you’ve found a friend! Just as paranoid!” 

Everyone cowered at the glare Moody levelled at Tonks, her hair changing rapidly from bubble-gum pink to a greenish shade of apology. 

**“On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milk-man had handed Aunt Petunia through the living-room window……..‘Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?’ Dudley asked Harry in amazement.”**

The Great Hall was enjoying this saga immensely, entertained by the stress it was causing the Dursleys and also relieved that Harry (quite rightly) wasn’t being punished for it. 

Fred and George didn’t have time to even begin their joke of Ginny being someone who wanted to talk to Harry that badly, before she was mouthing threateningly to them, _‘Summer, 1989’_. She was the only one who knew the embarrassing event that had occurred and they didn't dare test whether or not she would sprag, if they made too many jokes. There was a reason Ginny was the sibling they respected most- she knew how to get the upper hand on them, and almost never lost it. 

**“On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.”**

“No post on Sundays!” squeaked Dennis Creevey, 

**“ ‘No post on Sundays,’ he reminded them happily as he spread marmalade on his newspapers,”**

Dennis was horrified to have said the same thing as Harry Potter’s terrible uncle and had to be comforted by his older brother, who reassured him that he was not like Vernon, and was much nicer to Harry than him. The purebloods and some half bloods looked confused as to why the day of the week would have any effect on the post, it wasn’t like owls demanded the weekend off until several exasperated muggleborns reminded them that muggles did not use owls, but people, who did in fact, demand at least one day off. 

**“ ‘no damn letters today –’**

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air**

**trying to catch one”**

“He was always a seeker!” Another cheer from the Gryffindor table and while the other houses couldn’t deny that the house spirit of Gryffindor was very enviable, Merlin were they annoying when it came to Quidditch, especially since Harry Potter had joined the team. Harry could only imagine how happy Oliver Wood would be to have heard that Harry had tried to use his quidditch skills to even find out about Hogwarts.

Sirius whispered to Remus, “Do you think we should tell them that James was very much training Prongslet to be a chaser, or might that crush their spirits?” 

**“ – ‘Out! OUT!’**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.”**

Professor McGonagall exchanged worried glances with Professor Sprout, this really did seem to be going beyond just neglect, and possibly emotional abuse- this was physical. If Snape wasn’t still holding onto his silly grudge with James Potter, she’d have him talk to Harry, being able to relate to what he experienced. As it was, she’d probably have to rely on Sirius to get the truth about his home situation because if she knew Potter, and she liked to think she somewhat did, he would never admit how bad it got for him willingly and Sirius was probably the only one he truly trusted. The other adults in the room looked furious, and even Snape was struggling to hide his unhappiness. Sirius was quivering with rage and it was taking all of Harry’s effort to calm his godfather down, and remind him that once he was free, as he soon would be, he could stay with him instead. As it always would, it cheered Sirius up immediately.

**“When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

**‘That does it,’ said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time.”**

Well, that would save Padfoot and Moony some time in their revenge pranking of the Dursleys if Vernon was apt to removing his own moustache hair himself. 

**“ ‘I want you all back here in five minutes, ready to leave. We’re going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!’**

**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue…... Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, video and computer in his sports bag.”**

Hermione couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry at how ridiculous Harry’s cousin was. She’d always felt slightly bad for how Dudley had caught the bad side of magic from both Hagrid and the twins, even if she knew that he’d not treated Harry the best, but that sympathy was long gone now. 

**“They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn’t dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turning and drive in the opposite direction for a while. ‘Shake ’em off ... shake ’em off,’ he would mutter whenever he did this.”**

“Merlin, he really is as paranoid as Moody. I’m surprised you didn’t have Déjà vu when we were flying to Grimmauld Place last summer,” Tonks stage whispered to Harry, who snorted loudly. Remus looked at Tonks with a fond smile she didn’t notice, but Sirius certainly did. 

**“They didn’t stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling.”**

Madam Pomfrey looked like she might join Dudley in his howling at the thought of children going a full day without sustenance. 

**“He’d never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he’d missed five television programmes he’d wanted to see and he’d never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.”**

“I really wish that is what I considered to be the worst day of my life. I don’t think I could actually pick just one,” Harry muttered before remembering, oops, that would obviously make people look at him with pity and curiosity, and he couldn't stand either of those. Interestingly enough though, one of those curious stares was coming from his cousin, and Harry couldn't tell if he was shocked that Dudley seemed even vaguely interested in something to do with his life, or genuinely annoyed that Dudley - who surely understood how terrible his childhood with them had been, not to mention the fact he knew his parents had been murdered in front of him, and he knew Dudley had heard his nightmares anyway - looked like he didn’t think Harry really could have had that many bad days, especially much worse ones than the one he’d had. At least Dudley's worst day probably was more similar to his now, after their encounter with the dementors. Maybe when he realised Harry really had saved him from them, he’d be more inclined to treat him with even a little civility. 

**“Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights**

**of passing cars and wondering …”**

“Wondering what? How to not be so scrawny?”  
“How to not be so specky?”

“How to not be so grumpy?”

“Wondering why I chose a best friend with the most annoying brothers,” said grumpy voice interrupted Fred and George.

“I hope you don’t mean all his brothers, Potter,” Charlie said in a stern tone, flexing his muscles threateningly, but the smile on his face gave him away. 

“No, he's quite right,” George smirked, “Percy really is too irritating for most to deal with, not sure if Ron’s friendship is worth suffering through that,” Percy flushed red and glared at his brother, but couldn’t bring himself to snap back at him. Seeing his family altogether, and just as close as ever, was making those regrets shoved to the back of his mind, increase their volume. He didn’t necessarily believe Potter yet, but he couldn’t deny that the Ministry had clearly handled the Black situation very poorly, and it did not reflect well on them.

“ **They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast next day.”**

Professor McGonagall was seriously wondering if she would be able to get a calming drought to appear in the Great Hall to give to the palpitating Madam Pomfrey. 

**“They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**‘’Scuse me, but is one of you Mr H. Potter? Only I got about an ’undred of these at the front desk.’ She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.”**

“She should have done something if she realised that wasn’t normal behaviour!” Mrs Weasley protested.

“I don’t blame her, Mrs Weasley, she was only quite small and Uncle Vernon was much bigger than her, she was right not to confront him, especially as he was probably already angry. It wouldn’t have ended well for her.” 

It wasn’t missed that Harry seemed to be speaking from experience. 

**“ ‘I’ll take them,’ said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining-room……….He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge and at the top of a multi-storey car park.”**

“What is he looking for?”

No one seemed to be able to guess what on earth Harry’s uncle was actually looking for, even the Aurors were baffled by his actions. 

**“ ‘Daddy’s gone mad, hasn’t he?’ Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.”**

“Ah, it’s alright Duddykins, he’s clearly been mad for years, so if you’re only just noticing it, you're probably safe from him”

**“Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

**‘It’s Monday,’ he told his mother…..If it was Monday – and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television – then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry’s eleventh birthday.”**

Harry smiled. His eleventh birthday would always be special to him. Maybe by his next birthday he’d be living with Sirius and he could finally experience his first proper birthday since then. 

**“Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun – last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat-hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon’s old socks. Still, you weren’t eleven every day.”**

Harry’s optimism, despite all evidence to the contrary, that his relatives might care about just one birthday of his, felt so heart- rending. That a child not be counting down the days to his birthday, and only knowing it when the day is pointed out to him, and him not expecting anything nice for it, was enough to depress anyone in the hall. Harry was sick of the pitiful stares but he couldn’t really blame them. He’d always felt quite pitiful himself, when he watched other people enjoy their birthdays, before he’d made any friends. 

**“Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn’t answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he’d bought. ‘Found the perfect place!’ he said. ‘Come on! Everyone out!’**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out to sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.”**

Astounded faces gazed up at Professor Flitwick. Harry’s uncle had really taken his family to somewhere most likely completely unsafe, just to escape letters from Hogwarts? Why hadn’t they just replied with ‘no’, once they realised ignoring the letters wasn’t working?

**“ ‘Storm forecast for tonight!’ said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. ‘And this gentleman’s kindly agreed to lend us his boat!’ ”**

“He’s a sadist. He is actually sadistic. And you chose to procreate with that?” Sirius said incredulously, the last part directed at Aunt Petunia, who was maintaining her façade of indifference. 

**“A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowing boat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.**

**‘I’ve already got us some rations,’ said Uncle Vernon, ‘so all aboard!’.......The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. Uncle Vernon’s rations turned out to be a packet of crisps each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp packets just smoked and shrivelled up.”**

Madam Pomfrey looked like she was about to combust at the thought of that being all a young, growing boy was eating, especially when he needed energy to conserve heat. She would be enforcing nutrient potions on whoever ended up looking after him, along with a strict meal plan to boost to cover all his needs, whether he liked it or not. 

**“ ‘Could do with some of those letters now, eh?’ he said cheerfully.”**

“What an absolute bastard.” Charlie said firmly. His mother didn’t even bother scolding him for his language, she was too busy imagining what she would say in a howler to Vernon Dursley.

**“He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver post. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn’t cheer him up at all.”**

Hagrid sent Harry a conspiratory grin, pleased that he had proved him and the obnoxious Dursleys wrong.

**“As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.”**

“Naturally, because it is just too hard to care even slightly for more than one child, and keep your nephew in better conditions than a prisoner.” Remus intoned sarcastically. 

Ron was no longer surprised at how easily Harry could fall asleep on the small, uncomfortable camp bed in his room, if the floor was what he was more used to. 

**“The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn’t sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.”**

Sirius shivered himself at that. It sounded horribly familiar to him and it made his toes curl at the thought at Harry suffering anything remotely similar to Azkaban. He would spend one hundred years in that torture hole, if it meant his godson never knew how it felt, not even slightly. 

**“Dudley’s snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley’s watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he’d be eleven in ten minutes’ time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter-writer was now.”**

Harry grinned at Hagrid again. The letter-writer (or at least a representative of) had turned out to not too far away at all. 

**“Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn’t going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.”**

Harry looked up to see many disbelieving faces gaping at him. “What?” he said defensively, “It made sense at the time, if you’d been that cold, it wouldnt have seemed that stupid to you either. And I still wasn't even eleven yet.”

**“Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he’d be able to steal one somehow. Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that?”**

“Please be something innocent. I don’t think I can handle anything big yet, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you seem to have fought a troll at some point and you must have been twelve or eleven at the time.” Remus was beseeching Harry. Harry’s nonchalant, “Eh, it was a bit scary and weird, I’ll admit,” response was not helping matters. 

**“And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?”**

More people were looking worried now. 

**“One minute to go and he’d be eleven. Thirty seconds ... twenty ... ten – nine – maybe he’d wake Dudley up, just to annoy him – three – two – one – BOOM.”**

The whole hall jumped about a foot in the air, most looking like they’d give anything to hex Flitwick in revenge for him yelling that last word and startling them all. Professor Flitwick had decided to have some fun here- knowing who had given Harry Potter his letter, he knew this was nothing bad but it was very entertaining watching people’s reactions. He changed his mind seeing the menacing face of Moody. He might be more than capable in a duel, but Alastair was just plain terrifying. 

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.”**

“Well that doesn’t sound ominous at all, does it?”

“That’s the end of that chapter, who’d like to read next?” Professor Flitwick squeaked. Remus was quick to volunteer, deciding it would hopefully be less stressful if he could read ahead. Dumbledore announced that this would be the last chapter before they had a break for dinner - once they figured out how the whole food thing was supposed to work. Remus cleared his throat, and read:

**“The Keeper of the Keys”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the quality of this chapter, I really struggled with how to write people’s reactions, hopefully the next chapter will be better. I’ve had Little Mix’s cover of Falling stuck in my head for about 3 weeks now, so we’ll blame my lack of productivity on that. Their vocals (and their harmonies hfhjenwnajd!) are actually insane and since they’re so underrated in the US, I’ll do some promotion for them here :) You should all go listen to it on YouTube.  
> I also realise there’s very little Umbridge in here so far (I don’t know whether that’s good or bad!) but there will be more of her when people she doesn’t like can start getting in trouble for things, naturally.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the support as well. It's been incredible and every single time I see a comment or kudos left it honestly warms me up inside. So thank you!
> 
> I can be found on Tumblr @Lottiebillions - there’s lots of Harry Potter and some Steve Rogers and Little Mix fangirling going on over there. You’ll also be able to find updates on this fic on there.


	5. The Keeper of The Keys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for nearly 7k hits! That’s unreal, I never imagined anything I wrote would be read by so many people. I’m sorry for the huge delay in posting, it’s been a very stressful few months for me (and a horrible case of writer's block 🙄) but the support from people even 2 months after my last update has really encouraged me and means a lot so thank you again.
> 
> As always, some parts of the text have been removed, shown by the extended ellipses (............) to try and avoid some copyright issues hopefully.
> 
> I can be found on Tumblr @Lottiebillions - there’s lots of Harry Potter and some Steve Rogers, Little Mix and rugby fangirling going on over there. You’ll also be able to find updates on this fic on there.

Harry smiled up at Hagrid, hearing the name of the next chapter, while Hagrid beamed back at him. Now this was something he was quite looking forward to hearing about again. 

**“BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. ‘Where’s the cannon?’ he said stupidly.”**

Many muggleborns laughed at that, agreeing wholeheartedly with Harry’s assessment of Dudley’s stupidity. They couldn’t imagine their first reaction to hearing a boom in the middle of the sea being to ask where the canon was. Dudley blushed- obviously he realised now that was thick-headed of him but he was only eleven at the time! He wasn’t to know it was a giant! Only those, well,  _ freaks, _ could have guessed that. 

**“There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.”**

The muggleborns and half bloods were no longer laughing. Remus was appalled at what he was reading. That foolish oaf had brought a gun near his best friends’ son?! Said oaf was incredibly lucky he was not in the room. 

**“ ‘Who’s there?’ he shouted. ‘I warn you – I’m armed!’ ”**

“Well I would hope he still had his arms. Say, Forge, that sounds like a good sweet to add to the Skiving Snackboxes - Limbless Liquorice - couldn't possibly do classwork without your arms.” Hermione could do nothing but shake her head at George. 

**“There was a pause. Then – SMASH! The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.”**

Umbridge hmphed. That description was all the proof she needed that that filthy half- breed should be nowhere near humans. He was positively disgusting to look at and the fact that the Potter brat and Dumbledore defended him was all the more reason to get rid of them. Harry, meanwhile, was feeling bad for how this portrayed Hagrid - yes, he could see how Hagrid might look frightening but in reality, he was one of the kindest and gentlest souls and the immediate assumptions made of him based on his appearance really were unfair. 

**“The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**‘Couldn’t make us a cup o’ tea, could yeh? It’s not been an easy journey ...’ ”**

The hall burst into laughter at how casual Hagrid was acting, having just knocked down the door in the middle of the night and strolled into a room of strangers. Harry, particularly, found himself very amused, recollecting the looks on his aunt and uncle’s faces when Hagrid had dared ask them that. Dumbledore was beginning to question whether he had made the right decision in sending Hagrid to the Dursleys this time around. 

**“He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**‘Budge up, yeh great lump,’ said the stranger.”**

Mrs Weasley looked like she wanted to reprimand Hagrid for talking that way to a young child but she couldn't find it in her to, not when she remembered the way Dudley had treated Harry and when she saw the laughter on Harry’s face now as he remembered these happier moments; she knew there wouldn’t be too many of those in these readings, no matter how much she wished otherwise. Other students who had never particularly liked Hagrid or found him a good teacher, like several in Ravenclaw, found their respect for him increasing with the way he was already asserting himself over the Dursleys. 

**“Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon. ‘An’ here’s Harry!’ said the giant…..‘Las’ time I saw you, you was only a baby,’ said the giant. ‘Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh’ve got yer mum’s eyes.’ ”**

Remus struggled to get that last line out. He remembered all too well that first moment when Harry was 3 months old, and he had opened his eyes for them to see they had changed from blue to Lily’s emerald green. That was the first time anyone had said, ‘He looks like James, but he’s got Lily’s eyes,’ and Remus would give every measly possession of his to go back to those times. 

“How many times have you heard that since, huh?” Sirius (who had not got that memory back from the Dementors yet) chuckled. Harry just smiled fleetingly. He had loved being told that for the first time, it was the first time he could get any idea of what his parents looked like, but now, he preferred to be told that he was similar to them in other ways- he felt much closer to them that way, and it made them seem more real in his head. 

“ **Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.‘I demand that you leave at once, sir!’ he said…….the giant. He reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon’s hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.”**

Dennis Creevey resolved his promise to never upset Hagrid. 

**“Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**‘Anyway – Harry,’ said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, ‘a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here….. Harry opened it with trembling fingers."**

“Were you that scared of him?” asked a Ravenclaw third year. She couldn’t imagine Harry Potter being afraid of a half- giant, not when he’d done all that other stuff. Harry, who normally would never have voiced this aloud (but wanted to in this case for Hagrid’s sake) quietly admitted, “It wasn’t Hagrid that made me tremble, it was that it was the first time I’d ever been given a present without being told I was an ungrateful brat who didn’t deserve it.” Despite all they knew by now of the Dursleys, everyone in the hall felt their ire rise at that, and many couldn’t help but feel pity towards Harry. Snape, especially, felt uncomfortable hearing that - even he had received presents from his parents, without the verbal abuse to go with it. Sirius was sinking into the depression any reminder of the Dursleys and his own failure as a Godfather evoked, however the simple word of ‘Firebolt’ spoken in his direction was enough to starve off the major negative emotions for now. 

**“Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, ‘Who are you?’ ”**

Hermione wasn't the only one who desperately wanted to scold Harry for his manners, however the laughter from the Weasley boys and Sirius would have drowned out any attempt. He had at least thought the polite words out in his head, even if they didn't make it out into the open. Snape suffered a glare from McGonagall, who seemed to know exactly the unsavoury comparisons he was making between father and son and their manners, or lack thereof, in his head. 

**“The giant chuckled.**

**‘True, I haven’t introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.’........ ‘What about that tea then, eh?’ he said, rubbing his hands together. ‘I’d not say no ter summat stronger if yeh’ve got it, mind.’ ”**

Many students (and a certain Padfoot) snickered at that, Dumbledore’s eyes twinkling in amusement while Fudge and Umbridge looked disgusted. Hagrid, however, took on a sheepish look at the disapproving glances both Molly and McGonagall gave him. 

**“His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled crisp packets in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn’t see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there.”**

“Aha! I knew we’d get you for something, you filthy half- breed! You were expelled and had your wand snapped - you are not permitted to perform magic, especially in front of muggles,” Umbridge shouted, a triumphant gleam in her eyes, “that is illegal and you shall be escorted to Azkaban once this is over.”

The outcry at this was hardly heard over Hermione’s indignant yell. Not a chance she was going to let Umbridge get away with her prejudiced schemes anymore, not after what had just nearly happened in her office. And it seemed it was time for certain people to hear about that particular incident. 

“Perhaps, Professor Umbridge,” she began sarcastically, “you ought to make sure you’re not in a glass house before you cast the first stone. Or did you not, just a couple of hours ago, attempt to cast an Unforgivable Curse on a student, Harry Potter no less?”

The reaction was, of course, instantaneous. The words had hardly left Hermione’s mouth before all hell broke loose. Shrieks of fury burst from Mrs Weasley, Tonks, Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall; Dumbledore’s face of rage demonstrated just why he was the only one Voldemort was afraid of; Percy Weasley went white with shock and his expression was echoed by every other student and adult in the hall who had not been in Umbridge’s office; Fudge looked like he’d just entered into cardiac arrest - his career was over - the woman he had put in charge of children had attempted to use an Unforgivable on one of them- and quite frankly he was appalled that Dolores had gone that far; and Umbridge, herself, had just managed to turn a horrid dark puce colour and begin stuttering all manner of denials and excuses when she was quite literally flattened to the ground, screeching all the while. Sirius had finally lost control of that rage that, since Azkaban, simmered constantly so near to the surface, transformed into Padfoot and pounced on the witch, growling and barking infuriatedly. While not actually harming her (Harry’s presence was enough to reign Sirius in just that little bit), he was doing a terrific job of absolutely terrifying the woman. No one dared get close enough to pull him off and probably wouldn’t have been capable of moving out of their frozen state if they had tried. Remus, likely the only one left alive with the ability to control Sirius, was too busy wishing for once in his life that he was in his werewolf form to join Padfoot in mauling the woman who’d had the audacity to try and harm his cub like that. He settled for clutching Harry close to him and growling interesting but no less dangerous threats under his breath. These books were really bringing out the violent side of him that he liked to pretend didn’t exist outside the wolf. Madam Bones, while absolutely furious with what she was hearing inside, remained the one calm presence in the room (even the infallible Moody was livid) and drew up the official notice that would allow Aurors to arrest Umbridge the second they were able to leave the room. Draco, having now seen the reaction of the hall to this news, was beginning to realise that maybe he was glad Umbridge hadn’t had the opportunity to finish the incantation. 

It took several minutes for the pandemonium to calm down. Charlie Weasley, as much as he was enjoying watching Sirius have at Umbridge, decided it was time to pull Padfoot off her - he wanted his dinner at some point. Sirius transformed, stood up calmly, brushed himself off, sat down next to Harry once again, and stated in a voice so severe no one could ever mistake him for joking, that Dumbledore would have to take a good, long, hard look at Hogwarts and the behaviour of every single teacher or Harry would not be returning next year. Harry, with how horrible this year had been, and the relief of having his Godfather with him, couldn’t even bring himself to argue with Sirius. In fact, he was more distracted with revelling in the feeling of how nice it was to have an adult wholeheartedly on his side, and fighting for him, and him alone. Remus, agreeing with Sirius, took this as his cue to continue reading, ignoring the whimpering figure of Umbridge still on the floor (and the petrified statues of Petunia and Dudley, who had never seen something so barbaric). 

**“It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he’d sunk into a hot bath…...Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, ‘Don’t touch anything he gives you, Dudley.’**

**The giant chuckled darkly. ‘Yer great puddin’ of a son don’ need fattenin’ any more, Dursley, don’ worry.’ ”**

Everyone laughed, they all knew by now how close Hagrid was to Harry, and quite frankly they were looking forward to seeing Harry’s terrible relatives get knocked down a few pegs by him. Dudley blushed once again- he really hadn’t noticed until now that maybe his weight was excessive and not just because he was big boned. And if these freaks, of all people, thought there was something laughable about  _ him _ , perhaps that needed to change. 

**“He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn’t take his eyes off the giant.”**

“First, and last, time you ever enjoyed Hagrid’s cooking, huh?” Ron snickered quietly to Harry.

**“Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, ‘I’m sorry, but I still don’t really know who you are.’.....‘Call me Hagrid,’ he said, ‘everyone does. An’ like I told yeh, I’m Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – yeh’ll know all about Hogwarts, o’ course.’**

**‘Er – no,’ said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.”**

He wasn’t the only one. Despite everyone knowing now the kind of people Harry Potter had been raised by, some of them still couldn’t fathom the idea that the Boy Who Lived had not known anything about magic until he turned eleven. 

**“ ‘Sorry,’ Harry said quickly.**

**‘Sorry?’ barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. ‘It’s them as should be sorry!.....Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learnt it all?’**

**‘All what?’ asked Harry.**

**‘ALL WHAT?’ Hagrid thundered. ‘Now wait jus’ one second!’ He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.”**

Umbridge hadn’t been a Gryffindor for a reason- she was cowering too badly to dare voice her thoughts but inside she was launching her latest monologue of why Hagrid was a vicious beast and deserved to be nowhere near wizarding kind. Sirius seemed to guess her thoughts and bared his teeth once; he got the satisfactory reaction of Umbridge whimpering and looking quickly away from Hagrid. 

**“ ‘Do you mean ter tell me,’ he growled at the Dursleys, ‘that this boy – this boy! – knows nothin’ abou’ – about ANYTHING?’**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren’t bad.**

**‘I know some things,’ he said. ‘I can, you know, do maths and stuff.’ ”**

Hermione and Ginny couldn’t stop the stream of giggles that escaped them at that and they were joined in their laughter by many in the hall. Harry pushed a snickering Remus away from him while Sirius patted him condescendingly on the head. 

**“But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, ‘About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents’ world.’**

**‘What world?’.......Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. ‘But yeh must know about yer mum and dad,’ he said. ‘I mean, they’re famous. You’re famous.’**

**‘What? My – my mum and dad weren’t famous, were they?’ ”**

Draco was the first to voice the incredulous thoughts many of them were thinking: “You just found out you were famous, Potter, and the first thing you ask is about your parents being famous, not you?”

Ron was the first to leap to Harry’s defence, “When he says he doesn’t like his fame, clearly he means it.”

Snape was really beginning to struggle to admit even just to himself that Potter really didn’t bask in his fame and glory, though he would never admit that, not even under threat of death. Really, that threat had been made a few too many times to have any impact on him anymore.

**“ ‘Yeh don’ know ... yeh don’ know ...’ Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**‘Yeh don’ know what yeh are?’ he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. ‘Stop!’ he commanded. ‘Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!’ ”**

“Why?” a young Ravenclaw asked suddenly, “why did your Uncle not want you to find out about magic, what’s so bad about it?” 

Harry honestly couldn’t give her an answer, he’d wondered the same thing over and over during his tedious summers with the Dursleys and had never come to a conclusion that could truly justify his relatives’ behaviour. He did recall some of the things his Aunt Petunia had said during Hagrid's visit and guessed jealousy of his mother fit into the equation somewhere but that couldn’t be a complete answer. After all, Uncle Vernon was not likely to be jealous of a young woman, and he had always been just as bad, if not worse that Aunt Petunia. He said as much to the Great Hall, ignoring his aunt biting the inside of her cheek furiously. Snape, though he would never want to compare himself that woman, thought that perhaps he understood more than anyone why Petunia hated magic; where Lily was concerned, he found that he too, rather hated magic- while it had given him Lily, it had also taken her away and that was unforgivable. 

**“A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**‘You never told him?’........‘STOP! I FORBID YOU!’ yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

**‘Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,’ said Hagrid. ‘Harry – yer a wizard.’”**

“Well, that’s one way to let him know.” Dean Thomas laughed. He was very glad Hagrid hadn’t delivered his letter, that it had been McGonagall who gave some kind of build up to the announcement instead of just dropping it on him like that. He was quite sure that in Harry’s position, recommendations to mental hospitals would have been given. 

**“There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**‘I’m a what?’ gasped Harry.**

**‘A wizard, o’ course,’ said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, ‘an’ a thumpin’ good’un, I’d say, once yeh’ve been trained up a bit. With a mum an’ dad like yours, what else would yeh be?”**

Remus and Sirius smiled proudly at that, glad that Hagrid had been there to say the first kind (and truthful) words about his parents that Harry had probably ever heard. 

**“An’ I reckon it’s abou’ time yeh read yer letter.’**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**  
**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

  
**Dear Mr Potter,**  
**We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at**  
**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**  
**Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later**  
**than 31 July.**  
**Yours sincerely,**  
**Minerva McGonagall**  
**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry’s head like fireworks and he couldn’t decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, ‘What does it mean, they await my owl?’ ”**

“Merlin’s beard, Harry!” Sirius exclaimed, “You’ve just read that letter, found out about a whole other world and your first question is about the owl?” 

Harry gave a sheepish grin while the rest of the hall laughed at Sirius’ comment. It helped them see Sirius with less of the murdering madman image his recent exchange with Umbridge hadn’t done anything to dispel. 

**“ ‘Gallopin’ Gorgons, that reminds me,’ said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl – a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl – a long quill and a roll of parchment.”**

More incredulous states were sent Hagrid’s way, and fleeting glances sent to the many pockets visible on the giant coat he wore. For once, Hagrid picked up on those cues, and announced that he did not currently have an owl in his pocket and it had only been for that specific trip. McGonagall was not the only one to look sceptical at that. 

**“With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note which Harry could read upside-down:**

**Dear Mr Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter. Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. Weather’s horrible. Hope you’re well.**

**Hagrid**

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl…….as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

**Harry realised his mouth was open and closed it quickly.”**

Harry didn’t know whether to be annoyed or not about the amount people were laughing at him for this chapter- it wasn’t his fault he had no idea what was going on- but looking back, and knowing all that he did now about the wizarding world, he supposed it was quite amusing. The owl thing really had left him speechless though. 

**“ ‘Where was I?’ said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight. ‘He’s not going,’ he said. Hagrid grunted.**

**‘I’d like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him,’ he said.**

**‘A what?’ said Harry, interested.**

**‘A Muggle,’ said Hagrid. ‘It’s what we call non-magic folk like them. An’ it’s your bad luck you grew up in a family o’ the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on.’ ”**

“Both literally and figuratively,” the Weasley twins hummed. They both vividly recalled the huge lump of fury that Harry called an uncle from the summer before last. 

**“ ‘We swore when we took him in we’d put a stop to that rubbish,’ said Uncle Vernon, ‘swore we’d stamp it out of him! Wizard, indeed!’ ”**

While the general wave of anger and outage that swept the great hall was large, it was obvious that most people found themselves unfortunately no longer surprised by the barbaric nature of Harry’s aunt and uncle's behaviour towards him. It didn’t stop Dumbledore’s eyes flashing furiously, or Petunia edging a little closer to the edge of the bench so as to get further away from the hateful stares she could feel burning into her, or Ron gulping as he truly began to realise just how bad his best friend had it. Objectively he knew, but he had the bad habit of letting his jealousy blind him to it, not that he had in awhile, to be fair to himself, but hearing it spoken so plainly, he realised he’d never been more relieved to have chosen to sit in that compartment with Harry Potter on his first train journey and offer him a real family. 

**“ ‘You knew?’ said Harry. ‘You knew I’m a – a wizard?’**

**‘Knew!’ shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. ‘Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? ……….”**

Snape had never hated Petunia more, or felt more connected to his original Death Eater ideals regarding muggles, than in that moment. Ignoring the fact that he continuously mocked a dead man to his son, Snape seethed at the nerve Petunia had to talk that way about Lily- dead and buried Lily, who had never deserved any of the pain, emotional or physical, she ever suffered. Ginny felt the dawning horror of what it meant that Petunia had called her sister a ‘freak’ and had said that she knew Harry would be the same. She didn’t want to call attention to it in front of the whole hall, but she desperately hoped that Harry could tell her later that she was wrong in her theory- that he hadn’t grown up being referred to as a freak. Other people though, were not so silent.

“So why,” Sirius spat at Petunia, “why take him in if you hated Lily so much. Why not have done everyone a favour and taken him somewhere he could have grown up happy and loved?”

Petunia had had enough of sitting meekly at this point and spoke with defiance: “He’s not the only one who lost someone that night: I lost my sister. And it was your magic that killed her. It took her away from me when we were children, it killed our parents and then it killed her and left me to raise a child I did not want. You judge me yet you have no idea what I went through. I didn’t ask for any of this. I never wanted my sister to die, all I ever wanted was for her to be safe, and if that meant ignoring her until she came to her senses and turned her back on this world then it would be worth it. I knew it would kill her and it did but I took in her child so that the same mistake would not be made. If she had died to save him, I was not going to let magic kill the boy too, and make her sacrifice a waste. That doesn’t mean I was going to allow my Dudley to become overshadowed by him, like Lily had always, always overshadowed me. I raised him, I kept him safe, no one said I had to force myself to love him too.”

No one seemed to know what to say to that. It was a mixture of pity towards Petunia, and somewhat understanding - after all, she knew nothing really of this world except the slaughter its war had left behind- but they couldn’t excuse her behaviour towards a child,  _ a child _ , who had asked for none of it. It was Molly, tears in her eyes, whether of anger or upset, who whispered, “You shouldn’t have to force yourself to love a child, your nephew, your  _ sister’s _ son!. You could have raised them as equals, you could have still shown him care, comforted him, at the very least you could have told him about his parents, so he could at least know that someone  _ had _ loved him! I have raised seven children and yet I have the room in my heart to love that boy just as much as any of them!” 

Harry couldn’t say anything to Mrs Weasley. The lump in his throat was too large to even try to swallow around and his eyes were burning sharply as he stared down at the table. All those long nights in his cupboard growing up, where he would stare at the ceiling and wonder just what it was about him that made it so impossible for anyone to love, and had pleaded, begged with the universe to send him someone who would love him, came rushing painfully back to him in that moment and he could only hope that Mrs Weasley would understand just what it was he couldn’t communicate. Sirius was uncharacteristically still as his arm clenched tightly around his godson’s shoulders, feeling rather hollow himself at the situation that felt all too similar to his childhood; Aunt Petunia replaced with his mother, and Mrs Weasley replaced with Mrs Potter. 

Aunt Petunia’s reply was short and full of some unidentifiable, restrained emotion: “Well, I am not you, am I?”

Only silence met that, a sea of students who felt acutely that they were witnessing something too private to be subject to the same gossiping other things might, so with that, Remus cleared his throat and read on in a hoarse voice.

**“ ‘Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you’d be just the same, just as strange, just as – as – abnormal – and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!’**

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, ‘Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!’ ”**

There were many noises of disgust as people realised this was Harry had found out the truth about his parents’ deaths. How could a woman be so awful as to talk so callously about the horrific murders of a child’s parents right in front of them, especially while revealing that she’d lied about it his whole life? Harry sat in the centre of it all, once again trying to ignore all the pitying stares and though Fred and George looked like they wanted to make a joke to cheer him up, but felt there was no joke they could make there that wouldn’t be in poor taste, even for them. 

Sirius, though he had nearly spasmed with the force of his anger at Petunia’s terrible words regarding her sister, blanched terribly at those last few sentences. He never could have imagined Harry would find out about James and Lily’s deaths in such a harsh, crude way. He couldn’t help but sink back into the guilt and regret that he hadn’t been there to raise Harry with stories of his parents, never lying about their deaths, but not making it any more cruel and upsetting than it had to be. 

**“‘CAR CRASH!’ roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. ‘How could a car crash kill Lily an’ James Potter? It’s an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin’ his own story when every kid in our world knows his**

**name!’**

**‘But why? What happened?’ Harry asked urgently. The anger faded from Hagrid’s face. He looked suddenly anxious……….‘It begins, I suppose, with – with a person called – but it’s incredible yeh don’t know his name, everyone in our world knows –’**

**‘Who?’**

**‘Well – I don’ like sayin’ the name if I can help it. No one does.’............ ‘Nah – can’t spell it. All right – Voldemort.’ Hagrid shuddered.”**

Most shuddered like Hagrid as Remus said the name unflinchingly. Dumbledore, though, couldn’t hide his shock that Harry had actually managed to get Hagrid to say the name; it was certainly one feat he had never succeeded at himself. More mind-blowing to the students (not particularly the muggleborns who themselves had had to work hard to find out who this mysterious ‘You- Know- Who’ bloke was because, no, in fact, they did not know who) was the fact that Harry hadn’t even the faintest clue who the man he supposedly defeated was. The most famous child in the world and he really did not know. They didn’t know how many times that would have to be repeated for it to truly sink in. 

**“ ‘Don’ make me say it again. Anyway, this – this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin’ fer followers. Got ’em, too – some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o’ his power, ’cause he was gettin’ himself power, all right……….‘Now, yer mum an’ dad were as good a witch an’ wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an’ Girl at Hogwarts in their day!’ ”**

“How did Dad get Head Boy?” Harry asked suddenly. No one but Sirius and Remus understood why he was asking but Professor McGonagall could see the confusion and upset on Harry’s face and hastened to answer. 

“I don’t know how much you know about what your parents were like when they were here, Mr. Potter, but your father had always taken on leadership roles, even if to begin with they weren’t in particularly responsible ways,” Remus and Sirius were shot a stern look, although the students couldn’t imagine why sensible, conscientious Professor Lupin was included in that, “but I made him Quidditch Captain in his sixth year and he matured a lot after that. By his seventh year, he was the clear choice. Mr. Lupin, understandably, felt he would not be able to commit to the time- consuming nature of the job, and James was sorting out conflict where he could, running tutoring sessions for younger years and doing a much better job at covering up his mischief- making- he earned that title as much as Lily did, and she was a shoe- in for Head Girl right from the moment she stepped through the doors.”

Sirius sent such a grateful smile towards her, that Minerva almost couldn’t bear it. She might have rather died than admit it at the time, but James, Sirius and Remus had always been her favourites when they were at school. While she could have done without the fights they caused and initiated, their talent was undeniable and they brought great humour to those dark times of the first war; she hated that Harry would never get to see that for himself, and if, as she suspected, Snape was pushing the image of an, admittedly  _ prattish _ , young James onto Harry, she would do everything in her power to ensure he got a proper understanding of who his father was. Sirius, for his part, was appreciative of the fact that Minerva had done what he and Remus had apparently failed to do and alleviated Harry’s fears of his father being a bad person. James deserved so much better than that but Sirius was aware that he and Moony had got too lost in reminiscing what were much better memoires for them and had lost sight of what it must have looked like to Harry, when that was the only time he'd seen or heard his father, apart from during Priori Incantatem. 

Harry felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders and while none of his friends understood why that had been so important to him, they were happy to see that light back in his eyes. 

Snape’s eyes most certainly did not have any light in them after Minerva’s mini speech, the sneer on his face as malicious as the students had ever seen it. 

**“ ‘Suppose the myst’ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get ’em on his side before ... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin’ ter do with the Dark Side. ‘Maybe he thought he could persuade ’em ... maybe he just wanted ’em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe’en ten years ago……..took care of yer mum an’ dad an’ yer house, even – but it didn’t work on you, an’ that’s why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill ’em, no one except you, an’ he’d killed some o’ the best witches an’ wizards of the age – the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts – an’ you was only a baby, an’ you lived.’**

“Is that the only explanation you’ve ever had for why you survived, Harry? You really don’t know any more than the rest of us?” asked a curious Ravenclaw. It had always just seemed obvious to most of the students that Harry must know what had happened that night, and chose not to talk about for whatever reason. They never thought that he knew as little as them. Harry shrugged and said, “I know it’s because my mum sacrificed herself for me, so her love gave me protection but I don’t know how it works, or why he attacked us.”

Sirius glared at Dumbledore at this, it was a contentious point of debate between the two of them- how much Harry knew.

**“Something very painful was going on in Harry’s mind. As Hagrid’s story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before –and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life – a high, cold, cruel laugh.”**

Horror- struck faces were mirrored all across the hall, adults and students alike.  _ Merlin _ , they knew he remembered the green flash but to hear the  _ laugh of the man after he’d just killed your parents.  _ They couldn’t imagine having to live with that. And of course, no one but Remus knew the extent to which Harry could actually remember that night. Remus looked worriedly at Sirius, this was tough enough on him as it was, he dreaded to think how badly Sirius was going to take hearing James’ last words. 

**“Hagrid was watching him sadly……….‘Load of old tosh,’ said Uncle Vernon……….‘I accept there’s something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn’t have cured– and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world’s better off without them in my opinion – asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types – just what I expected, always knew they’d come to a sticky end –’ ”**

Oh.  _ Oh _ . Well, now. Harry hadn’t really taken much notice of the vile things Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had said that night at the time, much too overwhelmed with all that he’d just learnt, but now, especially armed with more knowledge of his parents as actual people, he wasn’t going to stand for that. Perhaps it was Vernon’s turn to be blown up like his sister, when -  _ if- _ Harry returned this summer. The comments actually reminded him of Malfoy; he was sure that the two would get along like a house on fire, if not for the whole magic-not magic thing. All the more reason to hate them both. 

Hearing Vernon’s threats of a beating was one thing but Sirius lost it again at that last bit. His explosion of “HOW DARE HE!” was lost in amongst Minerva’s similar shriek, and many of Harry’s friends shared the same sentiment. Flitwick and Sprout were shaking their heads in disgust and even Augusta Longbottom looked ready to give the Dursleys a peace of her mind. Tonks had to take the time to gently remove the book from Remus’ grasp, rips appearing in the paper at the pressure from his clenched hands. While nothing heart- stopping had happened in this chapter, he didn’t think he’d chosen the right one to read. 

**“But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, ‘I’m warning you, Dursley – I’m warning you – one more word ...’...........Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.”**

It was actually physically painful to Remus to realise that Harry did not know to get defensive of his parents like Hagrid did, because he simply did not know enough about them, or certainly not enough good things about them, to want to defend them. 

**“ ‘But what happened to Vol– sorry – I mean, You-Know-Who?’**

**‘Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That’s the biggest myst’ry, see ... he was gettin’ more an’ more powerful – why’d he go?**

**‘Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion……….Too weak to carry on. ’Cause somethin’ about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin’ goin’ on that night he hadn’t counted on – I dunno what it was, no one does – but somethin’ about you stumped him, all right.’ ”**

“See, even before anyone had heard any whispers of Voldemort regaining strength, there was still some belief that he wasn’t dead which means the rumours didn’t come out of thin air last year, for attention, like you’ve had the Prophet tell everyone,” Hermione, who hated chastising authority, derided to Fudge. He avoided looking anyone in the eye. No matter that Dolores seemed rather confident that these books would expose the boy, he was getting worried that the boy and Dumbledore had been right the entire time as Potter did not seem to be concerned by the level of truth and detail so far shown in the book. 

**“Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be?...........‘Hagrid,’ he said quietly, ‘I think you must have made a mistake. I don’t think I can be a wizard.’ ”**

There were snorts at that, and disbelieving looks. Wow, Harry Potter really did not stop surprising them. Hermione found it amusing how determined Harry was to not believe he was a wizard; when she had been told, she was happy to proudly accept it as fact straight away. But it was sobering to think why he didn’t believe it at first, the fact that he thought his magic ought to have protected him from his own family. 

**“To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. ‘Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared, or angry?’**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it ...every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley’s gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach ... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he’d managed to make it grow back ... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn’t he got his revenge, without even realising he was doing it? Hadn’t he set a boa constrictor on him?”**

“That really is the impressive portfolio of accidental magic,” Madam Bones remarked. 

**“Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**‘See?’ said Hagrid. ‘Harry Potter, not a wizard – you wait, you’ll be right famous at Hogwarts.’**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn’t going to give in without a fight………….He’ll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an’ he’ll be under the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled–’**

**‘I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!’ yelled Uncle Vernon.”**

A chorus of breathy “OOOH”s reverberated around. Everyone knew, if Hagrid was defensive of Harry, it was nothing compared to how defensive he was of Dumbledore. Harry’s uncle was in for it and they could not wait. So much so was the impatience, one particularly brave second year took it upon themselves to reach right across to Remus and shove the book closer to his face, as if to force him to read on quicker. 

**“But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and**

**whirled it over his head. ‘NEVER –’ he thundered, ‘– INSULT – ALBUS – DUMBLEDORE – IN – FRONT – OF – ME!’**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley – there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig’s tail poking through a hole in his trousers.”**

There was a moment of shocked silence before howls of laughter burst from every table in the hall. Even those not particularly fans of Hagrid couldn’t help themselves. Most of them at one point in their life had wanted to do something similar to that, but none had actually gone through with it! Fair to say, Hagrid was the most popular person in Hogwarts in that minute. A few people would disagree, including a white- faced Dudley who couldn’t help but clutch his behind once more at the phantom sensation of the pig’s tail. He was just glad people were too busy laughing to remember that he was actually sat there and available for them to mock even more.

**“Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**‘Shouldn’ta lost me temper,’ he said ruefully, ‘but it didn’t work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn’t much left ter do.’ ”**

Fred, George, Lee Jordan and Sirius looked at Hagrid with so much admiration, he couldn’t control his blush. Roars of more laughter had followed Hagrid’s rueful comment and it took some doing for the teacher’s to calm the students down again. They couldn’t help the fond glances they directed the half-giant’s way though.

**“He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. ‘Be grateful if yeh didn’t mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts,’ he said. ‘I’m – er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin’.........I – er – got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an’ everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore.’**

**‘Why were you expelled?’ ”**

“Ah, Harry, we spent seven years trying to get that story out of him and it never happened. It may be one of the only secrets of Hogwarts we didn’t discover, and I don’t reckon Hagrid will be telling anyone any time soon,” Sirius cracked. 

While Harry, Ron and Hermione shared amused glances at that, Fred and George were sharing amused glances of their own; they bet Sirius didn’t know half as much about the castle as they did, thanks to the Marauders- they’d have to challenge him. 

**“ ‘It’s gettin’ late and we’ve got lots ter do tomorrow,’ said Hagrid loudly. ‘Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an’ that.’**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**‘You can kip under that,’ he said. ‘Don’ mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o’ dormice in one o’ the pockets.’ ”**

“And that’s the end of that chapter,” Remus announced. 

“I think the excitement of this chapter and...other events,” Dumbledore glanced towards Umbridge, still huddled on the floor, shivering, and continued, “have left us all quite ready for dinner. Perhaps it is time for us to work out the arrangements and then continue tomorrow.”

Ron’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question for you all: what ships would people like to see in this? Do I stick to canon (e.g. Remus/ Tonks or do I fulfill my Wolfstar heart)? The only one I will definitely be sticking to canon with is Harry and Ginny because I adore them, but I’d love to have people’s input for the other pairings as I want to make this something everyone can enjoy; there are some ships I’m not comfortable writing but that can be dealt with later. 
> 
> I was supposed to have 2 weeks of exams coming up which was going to mean no update again for a while, but my country has been put into a severe lockdown again (one day we might get a competent government), with all colleges closed indefinitely so who even knows what's going on. I think I'm still having my mocks so revision for me it is. Let's hope they do get cancelled and I have more time to write instead.
> 
> Forgetting all that, I hope you all had a lovely (and safe) Christmas and New Year, if you celebrate it. Let’s hope 2021 will eventually get better than 2020 ❤️

**Author's Note:**

> I can be found on Tumblr @Lottiebillions - there’s lots of Harry Potter and some Steve Rogers fangirling going on over there. You’ll also be able to find updates on this fic on there.


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